Salmon escape fears in Northern Ireland

Around 5,000 salmon are feared to have escaped from a fish farm in Northern Ireland, regional reports suggest.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is carrying out an investigation into the incident.

The alarm was raised after a tear in a salmon cage at a site in Glenarm, County Antrim, at the weekend. Glenarm Organic Salmon is Northern Ireland’s only salmon farm, but the company has so far declined to comment.

Local anglers are already reporting the discovery of escaped salmon in the area.

Gary Houston, chairman of the Ulster Angling Federation, told BBC News in Northern Ireland that there was a danger that the escaped salmon will reproduce and mix with the wild population.

He said that could reduce the fitness of the offspring, resulting in a lower survival rate.

Houston added that salmon populations in Northern Ireland were “under a severe threat of extinction from farm escapes, pollution and poor in-river and sea survival.

“Farmed salmon are treated with a variety of antibiotics and anti-sea lice chemicals. While these antibiotics and chemicals are usually withdrawn before the fish are slaughtered, the escaped salmon will not have gone through this withdrawal period, and thus may be unfit to eat.”

The province has a relatively small solid fish farming sector and escape incidents on this scale are generally rare.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said a report was made on Sunday evening “that a rip in the net of a farmed salmon cage had been identified at the site in Glenarm”.

A local angling group said it feared the escaped salmon could pose a threat to the long-term health of the wild salmon population.

A Department spokesperson said its staff were “currently assessing the situation and any actions that need to be taken”.