Injuries from delousing, complex gill disease, and winter ulcers are ranked, as in previous years, among the most important health problems for salmon in the sea in the survey sent to fish health personnel and inspectors and advisors in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. However, injuries caused by jellyfish have moved up and now rank third.

Overall, wounds, regardless of etiology, are likely the biggest health problem for salmon. Regarding serious infectious diseases, infectious salmon anemia (ISA) was confirmed at 13 sites in 2024, with suspicion at an additional nine sites. With 48 new cases of pancreas disease (PD), the number was the lowest since 2005, and no PD case was detected outside the endemic zone.

Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) was detected at eight sites in PA5 and PA6 last year. Pasteurellosis was detected at about the same number of sites as in 2023, but it is concerning that pasteurellosis was found further north than before. Piscirickettsiosis has only been sporadically detected since 2003, but was found at several sites in Northern Norway last fall.

Both cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) and heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) were found at fewer sites in 2024 than in previous years, but the viruses causing these diseases were found at more sites than in previous years.

In recent years, there have been relatively few outbreaks of infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN), but the IPN virus is being detected at more facilities than in previous years. A new variant of the IPN virus has been reported in fish that are resistant to IPN based on QTL eggs.