The redundancy notices sent out Wednesday to 339 employees at four of Leroy Seafood Group's processing operations did not come as a surprise, and similar announcement from other Norwegian seafood groups are likely to follow, according to seafood analysts.

Leroy is blaming the layoffs on the proposed Norwegian tax on earnings, which it and other salmon farming companies have said is keeping them from entering into long-term sales contracts with customers.

It has become very difficult to enter into contracts and the current insecurity is easy to understand, Pareto Analyst Carl-Emil Kjolas Johannessen and Nordea analyst Herman Aleksander Dahl both told IntraFish.