Big rift led to a large escape of salmon in Roan in Trøndelag
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has imposed an extended catch of escaped farmed salmon. This after a large rift was discovered at a fish farm in the Roan municipality in Trøndelag.
“The escape of farmed salmon can be significant,” Section Manager in the Directorate of Fisheries, Ruth Lillian Kjæmpenes, warns.
So far, 50 fish have been recaptured at the plant of Bjørøya AS, «Drevflesa». The average weight of the escaped fish is 5.7 kilogrammes.
“We inspected the facility on Tuesday and issued, in co-operation with the County Governor, an order for extended recapture outside the required 500 metres area around the facility,” she informs.
This weekend the company discovered an L-shaped rift of approx. 2 by 2 metres in its fish farm in Roan. The rift was found at a depth of 22 metres. They notified the Directorate of Fisheries about the incident on Monday.
Emptied during the weekend
The mesh pen is scheduled to be emptied during next weekend.
“We will then get an overview of the number of salmon that have escaped,” Section Manager Kjæmpenes concludes.
The escape of farmed fish is one of the biggest challenges facing the aquaculture industry and the authorities. This is how the Directorate of Fisheries works when farmed fish have escaped.
The polluter pays
A large part of the responsibility for the recapture of escaped fish has been placed on the shoulders of the aquaculture industry, based on the polluter-pays principle. This responsibility is related to watercourses that form part of the national surveillance program for escaped farmed fish. It is defined in a separate regulation: Regulations on catching etc of escaped farmed fish.
In 2017, the Association of the Aquaculture Industry OURO planned to recapture escaped farmed fish in 52 watercourses in Norway.
© #Norway Today
