NZ King Salmon reduces harvest due to small, ‘stressed’ fish

New Zealand King Salmon said its fish are not eating as much as usual.

By Nona Pelletier of RNZ

Fish farmer New Zealand King Salmon says its fish are not eating as much as usual, forcing it to reduce harvest volumes for about four months by as much as 17%.

The company said this year’s harvest would shrink to between 5200 and 5400 metric tonnes.

It also cut its full-year underlying profit guidance by about half to between $6 million and $12 million for the end of January.

King Salmon chief financial officer Ben Rodgers said the fish were smaller than expected and needed time to fatten up.

“One thing we see with king salmon is they are a species which is easily stressed, and when they get stressed, they can have a suppressed appetite,” Rodgers said.

“So, they have still been eating or feeding, but just not as much as we thought they would based on historical feed-out rates.”

He said the aim was to increase the average fish size with a view to protecting future harvests beyond 2027.

“It is a tough decision to make but we need to reduce our harvest at some stage.”

King Salmon expects harvest volumes to begin to recover by September 2025.

- RNZ