Salmon company threatened with £40,000 plus daily fines over lice numbers

The salmon giant SalMar is being threatened with fines of more than half a million kroner a day over high lice numbers, according to reports.

The business news website e.24 says the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is claiming that salmon lice at one facility are three times the maximum limit.

But the company has countered the claim by saying it has taken all the necessary steps as far as lice treatment is concerned.

The problem is at SalMar’s Trøndelag facility at Hosenøyan, reports e.24, where an average of 1.6 lice per fish against an authority limit of 0.5 per fish has been recorded.

The authority has warned of an ongoing daily fine of NOK 570,867 – or around £41,000 per day. The company has until Tuesday, 3 September to correct the situation.

SalMar has yet to issue a general statement on the issue, but Runar Sivertsen , its director of strategy has told e.24 that high sea temperatures have led to an increase in lice at the site.

He added: “We have taken the necessary steps for lice treatment. We expect that the lice level will fall below the limits laid down in regulations within the deadline we have been given.”

A number of Norwegian salmon farms have been adversely affected by biological issues, usually the result of warmer seas, over the past year or two and high lice numbers have been among those challenges.

The e.24 news site has put a number of questions to the Food Safety Authority and a reply is awaited, but an unwelcome stand off with the authorities over lice may be on the cards. The outcome will be watched with interest by other salmon farmers.