Aquaculture Index
Salmon lice, sea temperature and biomass for the 13 production areas along the Norwegian coast, from open data.
Week 43 · biomass September 2026 · updated 2 Nov 2026
| Production area | Female lice median per fish | Over 0.5 sites | Sea temperature median | Biomass tonnes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Swedish border to JærenTraffic light green | 0.06−0.04 from week 420.06 last year | 0 of 4−1 from week 420 last year | 12.1 °C+0.8 °C from week 4213.1 °C last year | 3,963−14% from August |
| 2RyfylkeTraffic light yellow | 0.12−0.01 from week 420.12 last year | 2 of 36unchanged from week 420 last year | 12.9 °C−0.5 °C from week 4213.4 °C last year | 45,036+12% from August |
| 3Karmøy to SotraTraffic light red | 0.20unchanged from week 420.14 last year | 8 of 82+1 from week 424 last year | 12.6 °C−0.3 °C from week 4212.9 °C last year | 104,716−3% from August |
| 4Nordhordland to StadtTraffic light yellow | 0.14+0.03 from week 420.17 last year | 3 of 80−2 from week 427 last year | 12.1 °C−0.4 °C from week 4212.9 °C last year | 87,558−3% from August |
| 5Stadt to HustadvikaTraffic light yellow | 0.14−0.01 from week 420.15 last year | 1 of 23unchanged from week 421 last year | 11.6 °C−0.4 °C from week 4212.9 °C last year | 41,028+4% from August |
| 6Nordmøre and Sør-TrøndelagTraffic light yellow | 0.18+0.01 from week 420.26 last year | 9 of 76+5 from week 4218 last year | 11.3 °C−0.3 °C from week 4212.2 °C last year | 145,013+1% from August |
| 7Nord-Trøndelag with BindalTraffic light yellow | 0.17+0.05 from week 420.27 last year | 0 of 41unchanged from week 420 last year | 10.5 °C−0.3 °C from week 4211.6 °C last year | 68,680−3% from August |
| 8Helgeland to BodøTraffic light yellow | 0.17+0.01 from week 420.13 last year | 2 of 54+1 from week 424 last year | 10.2 °C−0.1 °C from week 4210.4 °C last year | 76,713+5% from August |
| 9Vestfjorden and VesterålenTraffic light yellow | 0.13+0.01 from week 420.11 last year | 0 of 63−4 from week 422 last year | 10.0 °C−0.1 °C from week 4210.2 °C last year | 88,145−14% from August |
| 10Andøya to SenjaTraffic light yellow | 0.08+0.01 from week 420.16 last year | 0 of 41−1 from week 423 last year | 9.8 °C−0.1 °C from week 429.9 °C last year | 77,383+2% from August |
| 11Kvaløya to LoppaTraffic light yellow | 0.14−0.04 from week 420.14 last year | 0 of 35−1 from week 422 last year | 9.2 °C−0.2 °C from week 429.2 °C last year | 69,952+7% from August |
| 12West FinnmarkTraffic light green | 0.06−0.01 from week 420.04 last year | 0 of 38unchanged from week 420 last year | 8.7 °C−0.3 °C from week 429.1 °C last year | 83,266−12% from August |
| 13East FinnmarkTraffic light green | 0.01unchanged from week 420.00 last year | 0 of 5unchanged from week 420 last year | 8.6 °C−0.4 °C from week 429.0 °C last year | 6,024−7% from August |
| Whole coastAll 13 areas | 0.14+0.01 from week 420.14 last year | 25 of 578−2 from week 4241 last year | 10.9 °C−0.3 °C from week 4211.9 °C last year | 897,477−2% from August |
Lice and temperature: BarentsWatch, week 43 and the same week last year. Biomass: Fiskeridirektoratet, September 2026. The medians, counts and totals are Sensa's.
What the figures mean
- Lice The limit is 0.5 adult female lice per fish, and 0.2 in spring: weeks 16 to 21 from Nord-Trøndelag southwards, weeks 21 to 26 in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. The median is the site in the middle: half reported more, half less, so one site with many lice does not pull it up. How many reported over 0.5 is shown separately. Salmon lice regulations, section 8
- Sea temperature Lice develop faster in warm water. A female louse takes around 69 days to become adult at 6 °C, 36 days at 10 °C and 21 days at 15 °C. A warm week can therefore mean more adult lice a few weeks later. Institute of Marine Research
- Biomass The fish at sea at the end of the month. It falls when fish are harvested, and rises as the fish grow and new fish are stocked. How much it may grow is set by the traffic light system: green can allow 6% growth, yellow stays flat, and red can mean a 6% cut. Norwegian Government, traffic light system 2026
Sources and method
- Lice and sea temperature Data provided by BarentsWatch. Salmon lice information is sourced from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet). BarentsWatch Fish Health Terms NLOD 2.0
- Biomass Source: Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries (Fiskeridirektoratet), biomass statistics by production area. Biomass statistics Licence
- Method Lice and temperature are the median over the sites in the area that reported lice for the week, are at sea and hold a licence for salmon or trout. Fallow sites are not included. Over 0.5 is how many of them reported more than 0.5 adult female lice per fish. The whole coast is calculated over all sites, not over the areas. The means are in the data. Biomass is summed over stocking years, and 41,387 tonnes without a production area in the Directorate of Fisheries' figures are not included. Sensa has calculated the medians, counts and totals, so the figures have been processed, and the sources do not stand behind the calculation. The areas
- Updates Every week, after the deadline for reporting lice, which is the Tuesday after the week. Late reports can change the figures for a week afterwards. Biomass arrives around the 20th of the following month.
- How to cite Aquaculture Index, Sensa, week 43 2026. www.sensa.no/en/aquaculture-index The data as JSON