Lerøy hit by new fish escape

Up to 5,000 mature salmon are feared to have escaped from a Lerøy facility in central Norway in the past few days.

Lerøy Midt says it has informed the authorities of the incident, which is thought to have taken place on Tuesday of this week.

Harald Larsen, general manager of Lerøy Midt, said the company has quickly recruited additional resources to try to repair the damage and to recapture as many escaped fish as possible.

While the incident is not huge in the general order of salmon escapes, it comes on top of a series of problems at Lerøy facilities in recent months, many of them involving jellyfish attacks.

Larsen said: “We are maintaining a close dialogue with the authorities including the Directorate of Fisheries and we are working with them to handle the incident in the most effective way.”

He added: “Our emergency plan was immediately implemented. Around 1,200 metres of recapture nets have been set out within the area we have permission to operate. We are now waiting for the go-ahead from the state administrator so we can implement recapture from a larger area.”

Lerøy also has agreements with local fishermen to help with the recapture and these are now being implemented. They are normally paid NOK 350 (around £25) per fish.

The escape is thought to be due to net damage. Larsen said the company greatly regretted the incident, adding that the company had a vision of achieving zero escapes which is was working on with its own people.

Last September at least 15,000 trout escaped from a Lerøy pen near Bergen.