Norway records lowest first-half "production fish" share in seven years

The share of farmed salmon, trout and rainbow trout classified as "production fish" in Norway fell sharply in the first half of 2026, reaching its lowest level for the period since 2019, according to new figures from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Mattilsynet.

Production fish accounted for 10.6% of harvest volume during the first six months of the year, down from 17.7% in the same period of 2025 and 30% in 2024.

At the same time, Norway recorded its highest harvest volume for a first half of the year.

“We see a clear decline in the proportion of production fish, while the harvest volume is higher than ever for this period of the year. This is a positive development,” said Kasper Løberg Tangen, section manager for fish health and welfare at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Production fish are farmed fish with wounds, deformities or other quality defects identified at slaughter. By law, they cannot be marketed for human consumption until the defects have been removed through processing in Norway.

“The decrease may indicate better fish welfare, since some of the criteria for production fish are linked to injuries and signs of disease in the fish,” Tangen said, although the authority stressed that the statistics do not by themselves show what has caused the decline.

The proportion of fish discarded altogether remained low and stable during the first half of the year, Mattilsynet said.

The first quarter figures suggest the decline in production fish was relatively widespread across Norway rather than concentrated in a small number of regions, according to Mattilsynet.

In central Norway, production area PO6, covering Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag, recorded the country’s largest harvest volume at 73,900 tonnes. Of this, 6% was classified as production fish.

Meanwhile, on Norway’s west coast, PO3, which runs from Karmøy northwards to Sotra near Bergen, recorded a harvest of 54,912 tonnes, with 7.1% classified as production fish.

The highest production fish shares were found further north and south.

In northern Norway, PO10, from Andøya to Senja, recorded a production fish share of 16.4%. Meanwhile, the combined PO1-2 area, covering the southern and south-western coast from the Swedish border to Jæren and Ryfylke, recorded a share of 15.3%. Although these were the highest levels in the first quarter of 2026, Mattilsynet said they were still well below the figures recorded in several production areas during 2025.

The authority particularly highlighted the change seen in PO6, covering Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag, which last year had the highest annual share of production fish in Norway, but in the first quarter of 2026 was among the areas with the lowest share.

“What makes this picture interesting is that the improvement appears to apply broadly and not just in certain areas. We will continue to monitor developments to see if the trend holds,” Tangen said.

Production fish normally make up a larger share of harvested fish during the first half of the year, while harvest volumes tend to be higher later in the year. This seasonal pattern is still visible in 2026, but Mattilsynet said production fish levels were clearly lower than in the same quarters of recent years.

Mattilsynet plans to publish its figures on production fish for the second quarter in November.

The update follows a recent drive by Mattilsynet to increase transparency within Norway's aquaculture sector, including the launch last December of a new public statistics page providing data on the harvesting of farmed salmonids in Norway, with figures available from 2018 onwards. The statistics show total volumes of harvested salmonid fish, along with a breakdown by quality categories, including superior and ordinary grades, production fish and discards.

This month, the food safety authority has also begun publishing operational plan data from marine aquaculture facilities, making information on planned operations, fallowing, relocation and fish releases publicly available.