Wild cod is a lucrative and sought after product. The fish are caught and then stored alive for up to three weeks in a net cage at a marine plant in order to raise the price and quality of the fish.
After several worried tips from their district office in northern Norway, the NFSA carried out a detailed inspection at three factories in the region and uncovered several gross violations of animal protection and seafood regulations.
Many of the fishing vessels used were built to fish herring and pumped up the cods through pipes that were too small, causing them severe damage. Blind and damaged fish were later stored in cages, some full of dead and dying fish that were not removed.
Torkjell Andersen, district head of NFSA in North Troms, said they found that fully 40 percent of the fish died as a result of the fishing methods.
The Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) warned that violations of animal protection laws had to be taken extremely seriously as import nations put an ever higher price on food ethics and safety.
"Norway as a nation is not served by a bad reputation. This is especially important now as the industry for both farmed and wild cod is in its start phase. It is now that one must establish standards of food safety, ethics and sustainability," said NSEC managing director Svein Berg.
Management at two of the fishing plants consider the NFSA reports to be unfair.
"We have our routines and we think they are good enough. The NFSA came at a time when we were very busy and my view is that things are not as bad as they say. But we respect and shall abide by the immediate actions they imposed," said one of the managers.
The director of one of the other plants agreed that proposing better fishing vessels was a good idea, but was not sure it was affordable for all.
"I agree that the rules should be better and that the vessels should be approved in advance. But it is important not to focus so much on animal welfare that the fishing industry in Norway goes under," the director said.
