Approximately 32,000 cod have died at a land-based facility in Floro in western Norway, due to what appears to be hydrogen sulfide poisoning, fry producer Havlandet announced in a press release on Dec.28.
The company stated that the fish, which had an average weight of 1.5kg, were placed in the facility at the end of August and were scheduled to be harvested in the summer of 2023.
The incident took place on the night of Dec. 27, and appears to have been caused by hydrogen sulfide poisoning.
Acting Managing Director Beate Gronnevik explained that the company is working to determine the cause of the incident and is sharing the information with others in order to learn from it.
The Havlandet RAS Pilot was built as a non-commercial development facility in 2020. The facility's primary purpose is to further knowledge about the technology and biology of land-based production of selected saltwater species.
Two successful productions of salmon had been competed without incident at the facility in the past two years. This was the first attempt to farm cod in the plant.
"Pilot plants are about learning, developing and gathering knowledge. Now we must learn from this experience," said Gronnevik. "We want to be open about it and come back to the cause when we know more."
