Sharp drop in farmed salmon mortality in northern Norway

This was reported by the Norwegian Veterinary Institute this morning. In comparison, the mortality rate in northern Norway was 10.7% after the third quarter of last year. The entire year 2025 ended at 14.2%.

In total, salmon farmers in Norway lost 35.9 million salmon in the first nine months of this year. Of these, 30.4 million were dead fish, 1.6 million were discards, and 3.8 million were reported as "other", reports Fish Farming Expert's Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no.

Halved in the north

The development is particularly good in Nordland and Troms. In production area 9, mortality fell from 14.4 to 5.9%, and in production area 11 from 10.3 to 3.8%.

Most other production areas also have lower mortality than at the same time last year, or only small changes. The exception is the merged area PO1 and PO2, from the Swedish border to Ryfylke, where an algal bloom in the first quarter resulted in high mortality.

How the numbers are calculated

The figures are based on farmers' monthly reports on the number of dead and live fish. The Veterinary Institute calculates a monthly mortality rate for each location and adds them together to gain an annual figures. The method takes into account that the number of fish in the cages varies throughout the year.

There may be minor corrections in the 2026 figures due to subsequent reporting.

Details about mortality and calculation methods can be found in the Norwegian Veterinary Institute's salmon loss application.