Lerøy reports escape of 15,000 salmon in Norway

Salmon farming in Norway
Norwegian salmon farms have battled frequent escapes in recent years | Photo courtesy of Andrei Armiagov/Shutterstock
2 Min

After the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries reported an escape from a net pen at Lerøy's Aukra farm site on 6 January, the company has issued a statement detailing the extent of the harm. 

The directorate’s report described the discovery of major damage to a net pen during a post-storm inspection. It informed the public that the company was working to recapture the escaped fish.

“The extent of the escape is not clear,” the statement said. 

The directorate asked for the public’s help in catching and observing the salmon, requesting that those who spotted the fish send photos to the department.

In a press release about the incident issued on 13 January, Lerøy Midt CEO Harald Larssen apologized on behalf of the company, reporting that 15,000 fish had escaped and saying “this is not supposed to happen.” 

"We have a vision of zero accidental escapes, and we take this very seriously," he said. "Lerøy has its own environmental and safety group, which has now started working to find the cause of the escape. Our priority now is to limit the extent of the damage and learn from the incident to avoid accidental escapes in the future.”

Lerøy has struggled with escapes before.

In one incident last year, around 14,000 salmon fled its Reitholmen farm, on which bacterial kidney disease and pancreas disease were later found. In another, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries reported that rainbow trout had escaped from the firm’s Naveide farm.


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