A fish farm operator at work on one of Måsøval's facilities in Norway.
Photo: Øyvind Nordahl Næss / Måsøval.
Norwegian salmon farmer Måsøval has had a busy start to the new year, already announcing its Q4 operational results - showing a higher-than-expected harvest volumes - and now releasing news it will acquire a harvesting facility from competitor Mowi.
During the fourth quarter, Måsøval harvested 7,929 tonnes of salmon (higher than its harvest guidance of 7,700 tonnes), and for the whole year of 2023, the company achieved a harvest volume of 24,533 tonnes GWT, instead of the predicted 24,300 tonnes. The announcement follows strong performance in Måsøval's Q3 results, reported in November.
Today, Måsøval also confirmed that Mowi has accepted its bid to acquire Mowi's former harvesting facility located at Ulvan in Hitra Municipality.
The strategic move aims to bolster harvesting operations and enhance harvesting capacity within the Måsøval group.
While the final agreement and completion are still pending customary terms and conditions, both parties are committed to a swift conclusion of the transfer process, the company said in a press release, with the goal of completing the handover by early April 2024.
Måsøval closed the year with other good news, learning that a Norwegian district court had awarded the salmon farmer NOK 12.8 million in compensation from the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries following a "misdiagnosis" of a virus causing pancreas disease at one of its fish farms in 2019.
The company had been forced to cull almost all of its fish at its Kattholmen and Or facilities in Kristiansund municipality, before the diagnostic error was discovered, prompting it to take legal action against the Norwegian authorities.
