In 2020, 63.7 million fish were lost in sea cages and
122.6 million juveniles were lost in smolt facilities.
Of the 411.9 million smolt put to sea, 15.5% were lost
before ever reaching slaughter.
Norwegian law defines a loss as any fish removed from stock that never reaches slaughter — deaths, culled fish, and escapes combined. Mortality figures reported separately can shrink over time as individual incidents get reclassified. The loss rate is harder to manipulate and gives the most complete picture of fish that failed to reach harvest, making it the better metric for tracking welfare year over year.
Sea Phase Losses
63.7M
15.5% loss rate
Smolt Phase Losses
122.6M
22.9% loss rate
Sea Loss Rate
15.5%
of smolt put to sea
Smolt Loss Rate
22.9%
of juveniles produced
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Norwegian Government Target
Goal: reduce sea losses to 5%
Norway's government has set a target of reducing salmon sea losses to
5% of all fish put to sea.
In 2020, the industry lost 63.7 million fish — over three times the 20.6 million that would be lost at the 5% target. That's 43.1 million excess losses above the government's goal.
The percentage hides the scale — this is hundreds of thousands of fish lost above target every single day.
5% goal · 0.0M fish
0%0.0% · 0.0M fish25%
At 5% Target
0.0M fish
would be lost if industry hit the goal
Actual Losses
0.0M fish
lost at sea in 2020
Excess Losses
0.0M fish
lost above the 5% target
Gap to Target
0.0pp
percentage points above 5%
01 — 2020 At A Glance
The numbers behind Norwegian salmon
Smolt Put To Sea
411.9M
juvenile fish released
— baseline year
Sea Phase Losses
63.7M
lost in sea cages
— baseline year
Sea Loss Rate
15.5%
of fish put to sea
— baseline year
Smolt Phase Losses
122.6M
juveniles lost on land
— baseline year
Production Sold
2.97M t
tonnes round weight
— baseline year
Cleaner Fish Used
51.5M
wrasse & lumpfish
— baseline year
Industry Revenue
68.5B NOK
total sales value
— baseline year
Farm Escapes
44,600
fish escaped to sea
— baseline year
02 — Is It Getting Better?
Sea loss rate has barely improved in 30 years
Despite industry promises of better welfare, the share of fish lost
at sea has fluctuated between 13–22% since the mid-1990s. In 2020, 15.5%
of all fish put to sea were lost.
Sea Phase Loss Rate
Losses as % of smolt put to sea — 1994–2020
03 — Scale of Loss
More production, more loss
As the industry has scaled from under 100 million to nearly 500 million fish
put to sea, the absolute number of losses has grown in lockstep. From 10 million
fish lost in 1994 to 63.7 million in 2020.
Fish Put to Sea vs. Fish Lost at Sea
Millions of fish — 1994–2020
04 — The Hidden Cost
120 million juveniles are lost before reaching the sea
The smolt and juvenile phase is hidden from public eyes. Yet in 2020, losses
in land-based facilities were nearly double the losses at sea.
These fish are lost in hatcheries and smolt facilities from disease, handling,
and production failures.
Sea Phase vs. Smolt Phase Losses
Millions of fish lost — 2005–2020 (stacked)
05 — What the Veterinary Institute Says
Disease, injuries, and unknown causes dominate mortality
The Veterinary Institute's 2020 fish health report shows that losses are not just a matter of scale,
but of cause. Infectious disease, injuries and trauma, and losses of unknown cause together account for
most recorded loss events in Norwegian aquaculture.
Key findings from Fiskehelserapporten 2020
Veterinærinstituttet · Report 1a – 2021
Pancreas Disease (PD) surged to 159 cases in 2020 — the highest recorded in the decade. The standardised AquaCloud cause-of-death classification used in later years was not yet fully established for 2020, so industry-wide percentage breakdowns by category are not available for this year. The report's survey of fish health personnel identified the main loss drivers:
Cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) — ranked #1 cause of mortality by fish health personnel
Pancreas Disease (PD) — 159 cases, the decade's highest
ISA — jumped to 28 cases (up from 6 in 2019)
Handling injuries from delousing — ranked top cause of reduced welfare
Gill disease complex — significant welfare issue throughout the year
Key events in 2020 included a dramatic rise in ISA cases (28, up from 6 in 2019), a record peak in Pancreas Disease (PD), and reduced veterinary inspection capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gill disease complex and cataracts remained significant welfare issues throughout the year.
Pancreas Disease (PD) reached a decade high of 159 cases in 2020 — the highest since records began. ISA cases tripled from 6 in 2019 to 28. Despite these disease pressures, lice violations fell to 982 from 1,186 the previous year.
More than 2x difference in loss rate between Norway's best and worst regions
Nordland had the lowest loss rate at 9.4% with 300,000 tonnes produced. Vestland had the worst at 21.8% — more than double — while also having the most absolute losses at 19.7M fish. Note: In 2020, Troms and Finnmark were administratively combined as one county.
Loss Rate vs. Production by Region
2020 — loss rate % (bar) with production volume overlay (line) · Source: Fiskeridirektoratet
Who Produces vs. Who Kills
Each region's share of national production vs. share of losses
Efficiency: Losses per 1,000t Produced
Fish lost (×1000) for every 1,000 tonnes of salmon sold
Farm Clustering vs. Loss Rate — Does Proximity Matter?iHow this is calculatedFarm GPS coordinates are taken from a mid-year snapshot (week 26) of the Barentswatch API. Farms are grouped into regions by latitude band. For each farm, the straight-line (Haversine) distance to every other farm in the same region is measured, and the shortest distance — its nearest neighbour — is kept. These per-farm nearest-neighbour distances are then averaged across all farms in the region. A lower value means farms are genuinely clustered close together.
Avg. distance to nearest neighbouring farm (km) vs. sea loss rate · bubble = production volume · Source: Barentswatch API
Best: Nordland
9.4%
loss rate · 300kt produced · 203 active localities
Worst: Vestland
21.8%
loss rate · 361kt produced · 272 active localities
Most Losses: Vestland
19.7M
fish lost
Most Localities: Vestland
272
active farm sites · more than any other region in 2020
08 — Cleaner Fish
Millions of fish used as living lice-removers
The industry deploys wrasse and lumpfish into salmon cages to eat sea lice.
Usage peaked at 61 million in 2019 and declined to 51.5 million in 2020,
partly due to high cleaner fish loss rates and a shift toward mechanical delousing.
Cleaner Fish Deployed Per Year
Millions of individuals — 1998–2020
Explore Further
See every farm. Updated weekly.
Explore the live map of all salmon farming localities along the Norwegian coast
with weekly lice counts, disease status, and treatment data from Barentswatch.