Some 96,000 Atlantic salmon, equating to around 430 metric tons (MT) of biomass, were lost in an accidental chlorine leak at Grieg Seafood Finnmark's harvesting plant in Alta, northern Norway, the Bergen, Norway-headquartered fish farming group has confirmed.
Grieg said in a statement that during the incident, 15,000 liters of chlorine leaked into the fjord. The leak did not cause harm to employees or other people, either on land or at sea, but that the 96,000 fish in the pens at the time died.
The company does not yet have a complete overview of how the leak has affected the environment in the fjord, but has engaged Akvaplan Niva to conduct an independent assessment of the environmental impact, which will include collecting samples of the seabed around the harvesting plant, it said.
“Chlorine is rapidly diluted and breaks down quickly in water. According to what we know today, the leak had a short-term, acute impact on organisms that were in the water around the harvesting plant when the incident occurred. The environmental assessment, which is expected to take a few days, will provide a full answer,” Grieg said.
Meanwhile, Grieg Seafood Finnmark is working to clean up its pens, while the harvesting plant's silage system and silage boats take care of the dead fish.
It is expected that the clean-up will take a few days, Grieg said in its statement, adding that the company will fully cooperate with all authorities, and will await their investigation into the course of events that led to the leak.
Grieg said the financial consequences have not been clarified and that the fish were insured.
“This is very sad. Our focus is now first and foremost on cleaning up. We will get all facts about this incident on the table, to ensure that it will not happen again,” Grieg Seafood Finnmark Harvesting Plant Manager Stine Torheim said.
Under normal circumstances, chlorine is used to disinfect the processing water at the harvesting plant, in accordance with the regulations of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the country's environmental authorities.
Photo courtesy of Grieg Seafood
