Bakkafrost recorded elevated mortality level at farming site Kolbanagjógv in the Faroe Islands on 20 September.
Approximately 750 thousand fish with an average weight of 500 gramme live weight died within a couple of hours. The fish at farming site Kolbanagjógv was released into the sea in June – August, the company confirmed in a stock exchange announcement Sunday evening.
“It has not been possible to confirm the cause of the incident, but algae phaeocystis, pseudo-nitzscia and heterosigma were registered in the sea at farming site Kolbanagjógv on 20 September, and the algae are suspected to have caused the mortality incident on 20 September. It has also been confirmed that prior to and while the incident occurred, manure has been sprayed as fertilizer onto the infield only 200 meters from the farming site Kolbanagjógv,” the company said in the announcement.
Continuous examinations are being done to confirm the cause of the sudden and short mortality incident.
Farming activity has been at the farming site Kolbanagjógv for the past 30 years, and there has never been a similar incident, according to the company. Bakkafrost has not observed any similar situations at other farming sites in recent days.
Bakkafrost will be finished taking all the dead fish out of the sea at farming site Kolbanagjógv Monday, and nothing abnormal has been registered since the incident occurred.
The company also informs that the fish is insured.