(Bloomberg) -- Salmon farmers in Norway should put in place measures to deal with the impact of jellyfish on their fish stocks, the country’s regulator has warned.
Seafood farms have experienced attacks by string jellyfish in the last days that have killed a large number of salmon, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority said on Thursday. Injured fish that are unlikely to heal should be euthanased, and if it isn’t possible to separate out salmon with extensive wounds, slaughtering all fish in the pen should be considered, the regulator said.
String jellyfish and winter sores wreaked havoc in Norway earlier this year, forcing producers to export more fillets at a lower price than what they would get for their superior whole fish. Reports of the damage also increased focus on health conditions in the pens, which are also impacted by wounds from sea lice.
“It isn’t acceptable to enter another winter where almost half of the fish slaughtered have open wounds, as was the case last year,” Bard Skjelstad, head of supervisory division for aquaculture, said in the statement.
Shares in Mowi ASA, the world’s biggest salmon farmer, fell 2.8% on Thursday, while SalMar ASA dropped 3.6% and Grieg Seafood ASA 3.1%.
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