ISA detected at another Iceland salmon farm

First detected in December 2021, the virus has since been found at three separate sites.

The first case of infectious salmon anemia was detected in Iceland last last year.
The first case of infectious salmon anemia was detected in Iceland last last year.Photo: Ice Fish Farm

NTS subsidiary Icelandic salmon farmer Ice Fish Farm suspects infectious salmon anemia (ISA) at its Hamraborg farming site, it announced Friday.

The site consists of approximately 890,000 fish weighing and average 2.137 kilograms.

The consequences of the suspected disease are difficult to estimate at the moment, according to a release by the company to the Oslo Stock Exchange, but the presence of the disease will likely reduce Ice Fish Farm's expected harvest volume for 2022 and 2023, the company said.

The event comes just days after ISA was detected at Laxar's Vattarnes farming operations in Iceland.

That site consist of approximately 1.1 million fish weighing an average 2.748 kilograms. Again, the impact of the disease is difficult to estimate at this time, but harvest volumes are expected to be lower as a result this year and next.

It is not the first finding of ISA at a Laxar farm. A month ago the company also detected the virus at its Sigmundarhus site. That site consisted of approximately 1 million fish weighing an average 0.476 kilograms. The smaller size of the fish means the impact will to be felt in 2023 only, according to the company.

The Sigmundarhus site is within close proximity of another Laxar site that had ISA earlier in the winter - the first case of ISA detected in Iceland - and had been under close monitoring.
Just before Christmas, Icelandic salmon farmers Laxar Fiskeldi and Ice Fish Farm announced they would be merging their operations after Ice Fish Farm acquired a majority stake in the former.
The deal, which had been in the works since June, will give the combined group a significantly larger footprint in the country's fast-moving salmon farming sector.
"The deal will provide us with plenty of good opportunities in the east fjords," Laxar's CEO Jens Gardar Helgason told IntraFish at the time.
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Published 27 May 2022, 08:56Updated 27 May 2022, 13:03
Ice Fish FarmLaxarInfectious Salmon Anemia (ISA)Farmed salmon