As war rages in the Middle East, the seafood sector braces for further global disruption, writes Jenny Hjul in this month’s round-up of industry news

This year began with Donald Trump’s tariffs turmoil and their impact on global markets and now trade disruption enters a new phase as the US and Israel wage war on Iran.

The Middle East conflict has created further uncertainty with seafood exports generally, with soaring air freight and insurance costs, and the suspension for much of March of commercial flights to and from the Gulf.

The hazards to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are driving up oil, gas, and refined product prices, with knock-on effects on fuel, power, logistics, and industrial input costs, said Rabobank.

The region is not only an important market for Norwegian seafood, in particular, but it is also a transit route for shipments to the Far East.

But, as Fish Farmer reported, salmon prices were up in the period between March 9-15, when hostilities had already broken out, rising 7.9% to NOK 94.98 per kilo (£7.41) on the previous seven-day period, according to Statistics Norway.

Salmon is reaching the rapidly growing Chinese market, with Norwegian exports buoyed by a new Superna Airlines service flying between Oslo and Shanghai, Fish Farmer reported.

Hainan Airlines also announced it was resuming flights between Oslo and Beijing, with salmon being one of the main cargo commodities.

And Scotland’s salmon farmers are also sending more fish to China, with some taking advantage of the daily direct flights from Prestwick airport after Air China Cargo expanded its service to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

Trade body Salmon Scotland said: ‘As the UK’s largest food export and a major supplier to markets around the world, we are monitoring this evolving situation in the Middle East closely. We will supply customers to the best of our ability based on available air services, as fresh salmon is transported in wide-bodied aircraft holds.’

China sales growth

Last year, Scottish salmon remained the UK’s largest food export by value, with overseas sales of £828 million and total export volumes of 110,942 tonnes, according to figures published by HM Revenue & Customs.

Sales to China were up by 28% to £97 million, while France remained the largest single market, accounting for £337 million, although sales were down 27% year on year. The US was the second biggest market, up 34% to £301 million.

Salmon farmers gathering at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF), which opened in Bergen just days after the Israeli and US strikes on Iran, were more preoccupied with older problems, such as ongoing regulatory uncertainty, although the effect of geopolitical upheaval on their businesses was also on the agenda, reported Intrafish in its podcast.

Although Norway’s salmon production jumped by 200,000 tonnes last year, leading producers have warned that further growth will be hampered by the government’s attempt to reshape aquaculture regulation.

Bosses from Mowi, Lerøy, SalMar and Cermaq, appearing together on an NASF panel, said the new framework – which retains existing biomass limits and the traffic light system while introducing incentives aimed at improving environmental performance – fails to address the operational realities of salmon farming, Salmon Business reported.

Mowi CEO Ivan Windheim criticised the regulatory emphasis on sea lice: ‘The idea that lice is the primary cause of decline of the wild salmon doesn’t make sense because we see the same decline everywhere.’

Runar Sivertsen, chief operating officer at SalMar, agreed: ‘Sea lice is a big issue but I think the regulatory side has too narrow a focus on the sea lice. We should focus on the salmon and fish welfare and sea lice will follow.’

And Henning Beltestad, CEO of Lerøy, said the industry must improve its communication with policymakers and the public, saying ‘there is a lot of misunderstanding out there’.

Steven Rafferty, CEO of Cermaq, meanwhile, said national targets, such as a five per cent mortality rate, were ‘totally unachievable’.

Mortality rates

The spotlight was also on mortality rates in Scotland during the final two sessions of the RAIC (Rural Affairs and Islands Committee) inquiry into salmon farming, where MSPs heard from sector and regulatory representatives and then from the Cabinet Secretary, Mairi Gougeon, who is standing down as an MSP in the Scottish elections on May 7.

The minister said no further regulation was needed on persistent elevated mortality because government research had found this was not a widespread issue and the sector was already taking prompt steps to reduce mortality to the lowest possible levels.

‘This past year has seen significant improvements to the resilience, transparency, and sustainability of salmon farming as we have worked with the sector to ensure it develops sustainably and brings lasting benefits to our rural and island communities,’ she said.

In a session on February 25, Ben Hadfield, chief operating officer for Mowi in Scotland, Ireland, the Faroes, and Canada East, said the Scottish sector had invested more than £1 billion in the last few years in innovation to improve fish health and welfare and minimise mortality.

‘I have been in the sector for 25 years and this is the fastest pace at which I have ever seen innovation happen,’ he said.

Among Mowi’s most recent investments is the new wellboat Inter Alba, Scotland’s largest to date, which has a capacity of 6,500 cubic metres and a reverse osmosis system that can generate around 5,000 cubic metre of freshwater in 24 hours, used to treat lice infestations and AGD.

And Scottish Sea Farms will invest £8 million in what will be Scotland’s largest salmon farm, after its proposed redevelopment of Fish Holm in Yell Sound was granted planning permission by Shetland Islands Council last month. The site will have a maximum biomass of up to 6,000 tonnes and 12 pens of 160m.

Red tape slashed

Elsewhere, Chile’s salmon farmers have reason to be optimistic as the new government, with a more business focused agenda, begins to cut red tape, Fish Farming Expert reported. The newly appointed environment minister, Francisca Toledo, has suspended the selection of priority nature sites that could have led to the eviction of fish farms, and finance minister Jorge Quiroz announced plans to unblock 200 aquaculture relocations, some held up for more than a decade.

There was good news, too, in Atlantic Canada after a new survey found support for fish farming has grown to 85%, up four percentage points since 2024, across all four provinces in the region, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Some 88% of respondents agreed that local salmon farming provided important employment opportunities, while 83% agreed that aquaculture was a form of farming, just like agriculture on land, which will be particularly welcomed by the sector, which is campaigning for fish farming to be regarded and treated in the same way as land farming, according to Fish Farming Expert.

Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers’ Association executive director, Tom Taylor. said: ‘Atlantic Canadians understand that producing more food at home matters. With the right policies and continued innovation, finfish farming can play a major role in strengthening Canada’s food security while creating good jobs and supporting coastal communities.’

Keep up to date with the industry’s top stories, all in our next news review.