K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Surge of algae kills millions of salmon in Norway

May 22, 2019 - from Reuters:

"A surge of algae has killed an estimated 8 million salmon at Norwegian fish farms over the past week, wiping out more than half of this year’s expected sales growth."

"The algae, which has spread rapidly around the coast of northern Norway, sticks to the gills of the fish, suffocating them. Wild fish can swim away from the algae belt while farmed fish is trapped. "

Harmful algal blooms happen in warm weather.

"The Directorate of Fisheries said on Tuesday more than 10,000 tonnes of farmed salmon, with a sales price of some 620 million Norwegian crowns ($70 million), had perished, but Seafood Council said the loss would be much greater. "

"None of the large listed salmon farmer such as Mowi or Leroy had were affected, Johnsen said, and were likely to benefit from coming increasing salmon prices in the second half of the year. "