The salmon farming industry in the Faroe Islands started in the 1970s (Salmon from the Faroe Islands, 2017), and is small in comparison to many of the neighbouring countries, with a total production of 80,000 tonnes of salmon (live weight) in 2015, totalling almost 3 billion DKK in export value (Hagstova-Føroya, 2016). There are three major farming companies, two of which have partial foreign ownership (Marine Harvest and Bakkafrost) and one completely local (Hiddenfjord). Farm sites are located mostly in shallow and narrow fjords, but some are in more exposed areas with sea currents of up to 0.9 m sec-1 in some locations and waves reaching 6 m in others. As in the neighbouring countries, sea lice are a major health problem in the Faroes. Lice grow resistant to chemotherapeutants, so a variety of other methods are used to combat infestations. These methods include freshwater delousing, mechanical louse removal, and growing larger smolts that require less time at sea. Cleaner fish are not a new concept to the Faroese industry, as they pay attention to what their neighbours are doing. However, none of the suitable wrasse species are native to the Faroe Islands, and the authorities have denied permission to import them. Lumpfish are native to the Faroe Islands and these are presently used in salmon farms, because they are known to consume lice and are considered an important additional tool to help combat them.

Other than using lumpfish as cleaners in the salmon farming industry, no commercial exploitation of lumpfish exists on the Faroe Islands. There is no history of lumpfish being caught commercially other than as bycatch. From 2014 to 2016, lumpfish were used for delousing salmon by three different companies at six different farming locations. These have all been farmed lumpfish, mostly imported from Iceland and some were farmed at Nesvík Marine Centre, Fiskaaling.