In 2021, 64.0 million fish were lost in sea cages and
144.9 million juveniles were lost in smolt facilities.
Of the 429.8 million smolt put to sea, 14.9% 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
64.0M
14.9% loss rate
Smolt Phase Losses
144.9M
25.2% loss rate
Sea Loss Rate
14.9%
of smolt put to sea
Smolt Loss Rate
25.2%
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 2021, the industry lost 64.0 million fish — three times the 21.5 million that would be lost at the 5% target. That's 42.5 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 2021
Excess Losses
0.0M fish
lost above the 5% target
Gap to Target
0.0pp
percentage points above 5%
01 — 2021 At A Glance
The numbers behind Norwegian salmon
Smolt Put To Sea
429.8M
juvenile fish released
↑ +4.3% vs 2020
Sea Phase Losses
64.0M
lost in sea cages
↑ +0.5% vs 2020
Sea Loss Rate
14.9%
of fish put to sea
↓ -0.6pp vs 2020
Smolt Phase Losses
144.9M
juveniles lost on land
↑ +18.2% vs 2020
Production Sold
3.31M t
tonnes round weight
↑ +11.4% vs 2020
Cleaner Fish Used
45.6M
wrasse & lumpfish
↓ -11.5% vs 2020
Industry Revenue
80.0B NOK
total sales value
↑ +16.8% vs 2020
Farm Escapes
68,900
fish escaped to sea
↑ +54.5% vs 2020
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 2021, 14.9%
of all fish put to sea were lost.
Sea Phase Loss Rate
Losses as % of smolt put to sea — 1994–2021
03 — Scale of Loss
More production, more loss
As the industry has scaled from under 100 million to over 400 million fish
put to sea, the absolute number of losses has grown in lockstep. From 10 million
fish lost in 1994 to 64 million in 2021.
Fish Put to Sea vs. Fish Lost at Sea
Millions of fish — 1994–2021
04 — The Hidden Cost
145 million juveniles are lost before reaching the sea
The smolt and juvenile phase is hidden from public eyes. Yet in 2021, losses
in land-based facilities were more than 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 — 2005–2021 (stacked)
05 — What the Veterinary Institute Says
Disease, injuries, and unknown causes dominate mortality
The Veterinary Institute's 2021 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 2021
Veterinærinstituttet · Report 1a – 2022
ISA reached its highest recorded level at 29 cases
in 2021. Cause-of-death data from the AquaCloud industry database
(covering ~46% of active sea localities) shows registered dead fish by category — note that
unknown cause was very high in 2021, reflecting the early stage of data collection:
Key events in 2021 included an ISA record of 29 confirmed outbreaks,
a significant drop in Pancreas Disease to 92 (from the 2020 peak of 159), and continued high incidence of
cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS).
Gill disease complex and Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD)
were significant contributors to losses in western production regions.
ISA spiked to 29 cases in 2021 — the highest ever recorded in Norway.
Pancreas Disease (PD) fell sharply from the 2020 peak of 159 to 92 cases.
Lice violations continued declining to 827 — part of a sustained multi-year improvement.
More than 2x difference in loss rate between Norway's best and worst regions
Nordland had the lowest loss rate at 11.9% with 362,000 tonnes produced.
Møre og Romsdal had the highest at 28.1% — more than twice as high — despite relatively modest production.
Vestland had the most absolute losses at 17.6M fish.
Note: In 2021, Troms and Finnmark were administratively combined as one county.
Loss Rate vs. Production by Region
2021 — 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
11.9%
loss rate · 362kt produced · 213 active localities
Worst: Møre og Romsdal
28.1%
loss rate · 221kt produced · 80 active localities
Most Losses: Vestland
17.6M
fish lost · 343kt produced · 270 active localities
Most Localities: Vestland
270
active farm sites · more than any other region in 2021
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 fell to 45.6 million in 2021, as the industry
shifted away from biological lice treatment toward mechanical delousing methods.
Cleaner Fish Deployed Per Year
Millions of individuals — 1998–2021
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.