Lerøy Seafood at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, 2023.
Photo by: WeAreAquaculture.
Lerøy Seafood Group has released its trading update for the fourth quarter of 2023, showing the harvest volume for Q4 was 47,500 GWT.
Of this total, the company announced, Lerøy Aurora produced 12,500, Lerøy Midt produced 20,300 and Lerøy Sjøtroll achieved 14,700 GWT, of which 6,500 GWT were trout.
The Group noted that the overall harvest volume achieved in 2023 was slightly higher than originally guided, ending at 160,000 GWT. The 2024 guidance for Norway remains at 175 thousand GWT.
However, it warns, the level of biomass going into 2024 is slightly lower than originally expected, due to problems caused by an influx of harmful string jellyfish during the fourth quarter of 2023 - first observed by the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research in November.
According to Lerøy Seafood, the presence of the jellyfish led to the loss of feeding days in Lerøy Aurora, while Lerøy Sjøtroll was forced to harvest some sites earlier than originally planned. Lerøy Midt, however, "experienced limited impact", the company said.
Other salmon companies were also affected by the high levels of Apolemia uvaria jellyfish during Q4. For example, SalMar reported it had been forced to cull approximately 1.2 million fish after an influx of the harmful jellyfish.
Meanwhile, Lerøy Seafood Group's wild catch division, Lerøy Havfisk, reported a total catch volume of was 12,500 tonnes for Q4 2023, which included 5,000 tonnes of cod.
The complete Q4 2023 report will be released on 28 February 2024, the Group confirmed.