THE COST OF AN OUTBREAK OF PANCREAS DISEASE FOR SALMON  

Pancreas disease (PD) is one of the most serious diseases in salmon aquaculture. In Norway there are about 100 outbreaks every year in a population of about 300 (Sjekk ) production locations. PD can lead to increased mortality as well as reduced growth rates, which both influence the economic performance of a farm negatively. The literature demonstrates that vaccination against PD is efficient in that they reduce mortality and prevent reduction in growth rates.

There are a number of costs associated with disease outbreaks like PD at a salmon farm. In this paper we will use data from a vaccination field trail to estimate the cost associated with a PD outbreak by comparing the performance of vaccinated and not vaccinated fish. We will set up a bioeconomic harvesting model, explicitly accounting for the opportunity costs associated with the disease. In particular, the direct costs are associated with the lower growth (accounting for reduced feeding) and increased mortality. Indirect costs include increased smolt and fixed costs per kg as the disease leads to poorer capacity utilization, as well as foregone revenue. The foregone revenue is due to a lower price as salmon price/kg increase with the size of the fish and a discount as PD reduce flesh quality. Finally, there is the foregone profits for the fish that was never produced due to the disease outbreak.

The results indicate that the costs associated with PD with the present data set varies from NOK 1.17/kg to NOK 5.26/kg depending on assumptions, where the lowest cost is associated with a scenario with just mortality, while the high cost scenario is a case with both mortality and reduced growth.