Shetland fish deaths plunged Scottish Sea Farms into the red
Salmon producer made operating loss of £14.2m in Q4 after plankton and jellyfish caused gill issues
Scotland’s second largest salmon producer, Scottish Sea Farms (SSF), made an operating loss of £14.2 million in a financially disastrous fourth quarter of last year as a result of fish deaths at farms in Shetland that have led it to cut its harvest forecast for 2026 by 2,000 gutted weight tonnes.
“Weak results in the period followed biological challenges at a number of sites which led to incident-based mortality primarily related to AGD (amoebic gill disease) gill health challenges. Lower average of harvested biomass affected both cost and price achievement,” co-owner SalMar said in its Q4 2025 report today.
SSF, which is owned 50-50 by Norwegian fish farming heavyweights SalMar and Lerøy, harvested 5,500 gwt in Q4, down from 9,000 gwt in the same period in 2024.
It made an operating loss of NOK -186m, compared to an operating profit of NOK 93m in Q4 2024. EBIT per kilo in Q4 was NOK -33.8 (Q4 2024: NOK 10.3),which pushed EBIT per kilo for the year down to NOK -3.9 (NOK 13.7).
The loss in Q4 meant that SSF made an operating loss of NOK 128m for the year, after making an operating profit of NOK 555m in 2024.
Pre-tax losses
SSF made pre-tax losses of NOK -266m (NOK 46m) for Q4, and NOK -348m (NOK 311m) for the year.
Harvest volume for the year was 32,800 gwt, which is 800 gwt higher than guided at the start of 2025 but 700 gwt short of the revised volume of 33,500 gwt that was guided in Q3 after SSF had witnessed nine months of strong fish health.
SSF’s Q4 mortalities have led it to reduce harvest guidance for 2026 from 45,000 gwt to 43,000 gwt.
Figures published by trade body Salmon Scotland show that SSF recorded full cycle mortality of 69% at its East of Papa Little site in St Magnus Bay, Shetland, during Q. It also recorded 10.5% mortality at its nearby Cole Deep site in October, and 13% in November, and 19.6% at Holms Geo, Shetland, in October. The site was fallowed that month and had a full cycle mortality of just 3.2%.
Acted quickly
In December, SSF said Shetland experienced record-breaking sea temperatures in 2025, leading to plankton blooms and micro-jellyfish events which affected gill health at some sites, contributing to the complex gill disorder seen at Cole Deep, East of Papa Little, and elsewhere in October.
“Where conditions deteriorated, we acted quickly. Fish were removed from East of Papa Little in November to protect welfare, with all five local jobs retained across our wider farming operations. At Cole Deep, the situation has stabilised and fish remain on site,” wrote SSF.
