About 40,000 fish (salmon) escaped when they were loaded into a fish transport at a hatchery in Bergsfjorden in Troms Wednesday.
The incident occurred at the plant Akvafarm on May 18th and arose in connection with loading the fish transport, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries wrote on its website.
Section Manager Ernst Bowl of Directorate Region North says to NRK news that this volume of fish escaping is a rare occurrence.
“Salmon smolts could cause genetic pollution in the bay, and that’s the big issue with aquaculture and fish escapes. We fear the escaped fish mingling with the indigenous populations and thus destroying the genetic material unique to the areas they come to,” he says.
Bolle says in general, this event fits into the series of mishaps where loading/unloading on and off the fish transport went awry.
The Crew of Fisheries came on Thursday to the plant to try to determine how the incident happened.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway
