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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ajit Niranjan

Norwegian fish farms polluting fjords with waste likened to ‘raw sewage of millions of people’

A view of the Sognefjord fjord in Norway, with calm waters and a blue sky
Oxygen levels have been depleted in Sognefjord, Norway’s longest fjord. Photograph: Thom Lang/Alamy

Norwegian fish farms are filling fjords and other coastal waters with nutrient pollution equivalent to the raw sewage of tens of millions of people each year, a report has found.

Norway is the largest farmed salmon producer in the world, and nutrients in fish feed are excreted directly into coastal waters. Analysis from the Sunstone Institute found that Norwegian aquaculture released 75,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 13,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 360,000 tonnes of organic carbon in 2025.

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