Marine Harvest has simplified its prolific salmon-production areas in Norway from four to three in response to new rules imposed by Oslo which, among other changes, imposed a “traffic-light” system that halts licensing in waters liable to be adversely affected by sea lice.
A company communique that went out Tuesday afternoon suggested the company was assimilating its Operating Region “West” in favour of the remaining “South”, “Middle” and “North” in response to the regulator-imposed traffic-light system for lice.
Due to the introduction of new production areas in Norway, we in Marine Harvest wish to have the best organization of our activity. By reducing the number of regions to three we will be able to adjust to the new regulations and streamline our operation, Marine Harvest’s Norway and Chile chief exec, Per-Roar Gjerde, said in a statement.
SalmonBusiness sent a note to Marine Harvest to secure further comment on their reasons for the reshuffling of its home territory. Company communications lead, Ole Hjetland, said Marine Harvest was not linking the move to the “traffic light” system, per se, but that the new rules meant, “That option for utilizing biomass connected to production in the area was no longer there.”
“The reorganizaiton is not linked to the traffic lights but to new production areas introduced (by Oslo) on October 15th,” Hjetland said, adding, that restructuring was about “using the flexibility in the biomass in the production areas bordering each other”.
“It’s really down to utilizing the flexibility in the biomass in a better way. We have factories in (Operating Areas) 2 and 5, 6 and, I think, 8.”
