Norcod may be forced to harvest early

Norcod has been told by Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries that it could be forced into an early harvest because its fish are reaching sexual maturation too early.

The Directorate has found that a sampling from one of the company’s cod farms will mature for spawning ahead of its planned harvest.

In a Stock Exchange announcement this week, Norcod reported that the Directorate is considering imposing measures that will imply an accelerated harvesting process, compared to the originally approved plans.

Norcod also conceded that maturation and accelerated harvesting would have an impact on the company’s previous estimated biomass, size of fish, and the aggregate volume ready for harvesting.

It said the Directorate has asked the company to provide complementary information along with its views as to how the findings may best be dealt with within an environmentally sound framework.

The statement added: “Norcod will respond to the Directorate’s request through making further investigations and analyses, which will then be sent to it to provide the best possible basis to consider the extent of this matter and which measures may reasonably be implemented, including any need for an accelerated harvesting of the fish.

In November Norcod delivered an optimistic third quarter assessment on its future operations.

The Norwegian business announced considerably reduced losses from NOK 16.5m (£1.4m) for the same period in 2021 to NOK 3m (£254,000) in Q3 2022.

It also reported that, with countries reducing fishing quotas, farmed cod is well placed to take on a more important role in the market.