Atlantic Sapphire reported an incident at one of its RAS facility in Denmark. Preliminary analysis, which remains subject to change, indicates that maintenance work performed in the filtration system caused water quality to quickly deteriorate, resulting in elevated mortality. 

“Atlantic Sapphire is continuously improving its operating procedures to ensure that all actions taken by the farm operators do not pose a risk to the stability of the systems, therefore impacting the fish. However, human error altered the water levels in the RAS system and allowed previously stagnant water to flow into the tanks. To minimize the risk of a similar incident reoccurring, the company has updated certain operating procedures and such changes will take effect immediately,” the company said.

Approximately 400 tons of fish are expected to be lost, the equivalent of around 17% of annualized harvest volumes from the Denmark facility at steady-state production. The fish would have been harvestable in H2 2021. The direct financial impact of the incident after expected insurance proceeds is estimated to $3 million.