OSLO: The Norwegian government has announced new measures to allow trout farmers to leave fish in the water longer, in the face of reduced market scope following Russia’s import ban.
In practice, the government is allowing the maximum allowed biomass of trout in the water to be increased by 20%, with effect from today (Sept. 2) until June 30, 2016, to “assist the difficult market situation”.
Russia decided, with effect from Aug. 24, 2015, to block 14 Norwegian salmon and trout companies from providing the raw material for products that are imported to Russia from other countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan).
The 14 Norwegian companies were already banned from exporting directly to the Russian market, along with the rest of the Norwegian seafood industry, as a result of the import ban imposed on Aug. 7, 2014.
The additional measure against these 14 firms came after a dispute over whether Russian food safety inspectors would be allowed to see the Norwegian facilities.
“The shutout is demanding for the trout industry, which was already hard hit by the Russian import ban,” said Norway’s fisheries minister Elisabeth Aspaker. “The measure will give the industry time to consider their options.”
The measures apply to the whole trout industry, and not just the 14 affected exporters.
To calculate how the measures will affect farmers with both salmon and trout, the authorities will use the figures reported on Aug. 31, 2015. For instance, for a producer who farms 25% trout and 75% salmon, the new biomass allowance would be calculated as following:
780 metric tons, multiplied by 0.25, multiplied by 1.20, is 234t.
