Norwegian land-based salmon farmer Gigante Salmon has reported that its second smolt batch release at its Rødøy facility in the north of the country was struck by a “significant mortality” event during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Delivering its Q4 2023 report, the company confirmed production of 640,000 smolt averaging 100 grams in weight. While the first delivery of this product “went very well,” the second delivery suffered greatly from the event, it stated in a new filing with Euronext Growth (Oslo).
Gigante Salmon said it will offer up an update when the full scope of the mortality has been clarified.
These problems stem back to September 2023, when the company pushed back the start of production from its original release plans for that month and October.
In its latest filing, Gigante stated that in order to not affect further production plans for the facility to an overly large extent, it has chosen to deploy fewer smolt than originally planned last fall.
CEO Helge Albertsen said the focus is now to “ensure fish welfare in the best way while also gaining experience and securing good operations.”
So far, fish have been released in one of three production basins at Rødøy. The other two basins will release fish through 2024, and the next smolt release is expected in the third quarter of this year.
As the company was still in a development phase, it made no sales in the fourth quarter of 2023. Its operating costs for the period totaled NOK 984,000 (USD 93,884, EUR 86,374) – down from just under NOK 1.2 million (USD 114,495, EUR 105,325) in the corresponding period of 2022.
Meanwhile, its Q4 investments increased to ...
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