“Barbed-wire jellyfish and a period of stormy weather has led to bacterial wound infection.”
Norwegian salmon farming giant Cermaq Norway has announced the culling of approximately 900,000 fish at its Olderfjord site in Hammerfest, Norway.
The decision is the result of significant health challenges including the presence of jellyfish and adverse weather conditions since January, which have led to bacterial infections, the company confirmed in a press release on Thursday.
“After extensive consultation with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Cermaq had made the difficult decision to remove, anesthetize, and euthanize fish from six cages due to prevalent bacterial wound infections and a decline in fish welfare,” said the company’s communications manager, Astrid Aam.
The fish, averaging around 500 grams each, were housed in six cages, totaling roughly 900,000 individuals.
“This has been a desperate situation, where we have seen increased mortality in these cages since the beginning of January this year, as a result of barbed-wire jellyfish and a period of stormy weather which has subsequently led to a bacterial wound infection” wrote the company.
Despite exhaustive efforts to address the situation, Cermaq concluded that there were no viable alternative measures or treatments to improve the fish’s health. Consequently, the decision was made to cull the fish in the affected cages to prevent the potential spread of infection to other parts of the facility.
The process of removing the fish has already commenced and is expected to be completed within a few days.
