{"id":3299,"date":"2025-02-20T13:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmf.no\/?p=3299"},"modified":"2025-03-07T14:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T13:50:20","slug":"mowi-feirer-enda-et-rekordar-med-milliardutbytte-mens-norsk-natur-betaler-prisen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmf.no\/en\/mowi-feirer-enda-et-rekordar-med-milliardutbytte-mens-norsk-natur-betaler-prisen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mowi celebrates yet another record year with a billion-kroner dividend \u2013 while Norwegian nature pays the price."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mowi celebrates yet another record year with a billion-kroner dividend \u2013 while Norwegian nature pays the price.<\/h2><\/div>\n\t
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Published 20.02.2025<\/h6>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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Mowi once again celebrates massive profits and a billion-kroner dividend, but behind the facade lies a brutal truth: Norwegian nature and wild salmon are paying the price. NMF has now reported the company twice in one week for serious environmental crimes following extensive escapes of farmed salmon \u2013 a threat to the survival of wild salmon.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Massive escape from Mowi<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Mowi, the world's largest aquaculture company, has recently reported record profits from 2024 and is distributing over one billion kroner in dividends to its shareholders in the fourth quarter. While the company earns enormous sums, it comes at the expense of Norwegian nature and wild salmon. We at the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association find this unacceptable and have recently reported Mowi for serious environmental crimes following a massive escape of farmed salmon in Dyr\u00f8y municipality, as well as the escape of 63,000 smolt in Mel\u00f8y municipality.<\/p>\n

Criminal complaint 1: 27 000 escaped salmon - <\/strong>In February 2025, at least 27,000 salmon escaped from one of Mowi's facilities at Storvika V in Dyr\u00f8y municipality after a mooring line broke, causing a fish pen to become partially submerged. The escape poses a serious threat to the Norwegian wild salmon population, which is already under significant pressure.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time NMF has reported this facility. As early as 2016, we documented severe pollution from Mowi's facility in Dyr\u00f8y, where large amounts of waste lay in \"filth piles\" on the seabed. Yet, the company is allowed to continue its destructive operations without real consequences.<\/p>\n

Criminal complaint 2:<\/strong> During the pumping of smolt at Mowi's dock facility in Glomfjord, Mel\u00f8y Municipality, safety procedures failed, resulting in 65,000 farmed smolt escaping into the sea. After two weeks of recapture efforts, only 1,770 smolt were retrieved \u2013 the remaining 63,000 are still at large, posing a risk of interbreeding with the already endangered wild salmon.<\/p>\n

Farmed salmon and wild salmon have different genetic traits, and when they mix, the genetic traits of wild salmon, which have developed over thousands of years, are weakened. In the worst case, this can contribute to the extinction of local wild salmon stocks. After years of the aquaculture industry, escapes, and the decline in the wild salmon population, this has proven to be the truth. Farmed salmon is pointed to as the definite main cause of the collapse of the wild salmon population.<\/p>\n

NMF believes that the number of escaped salmon reported by aquaculture companies is often underreported. The farmers never have a complete overview of how many fish are actually in the pens, and they have strong financial incentives to report lower numbers.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Mowi prioritizes profits over nature<\/strong><\/h4>\n

At the same time as Mowi earns billions, they refuse to take responsibility for the extensive environmental damage they cause to Norwegian nature. The company continues to use open pens, despite the fact that this contributes to:<\/p>\n