Christmas period sees escapes and storms
The authorities in Norway had to deal with a series of dramatic incidents over Christmas which included escapes and a potentially serious wellboat incident.
The first escape involved Mowi Seawater AS which reported that fish had got out of a facility in an escape incident at their Kviteberg location in Kvænangen municipality in Troms. It was discovered during a delousing operation.
The company deployed special nets outside the site, and as of 23 December, had recaptured just 13 fish. The average size of the fish is just under 2 kg. The extent of the escape was not clear, Mowi said.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said it will follow up the incident with supervision, in accordance with normal procedures. It has also appealed to the public to keep an eye out for escaped fish and to capture them if they can.
Grieg Seafood also reported an escape incident involved with the loading of smolt at its facility at Landersfjord in Lebesby municipality on Christmas Day. The company said a loading hose broke which resulted in the escape of between 100 and 1,000 fish. Grieg said the Directorate of Fisheries has been made aware of the incident.
In a potentially life-threatening incident, a workboat with six people on board was blown ashore in a fierce winter storm, also near the Mowi site at Kviteberg on Monday this week.
The 21 metre AQS Saga, owned by the AQS company, sent out a distress call and the crew donned lifejackets and survival suits before jumping into the sea. The shore was just a few yards away and a Mowi workboat was on hand just in case but they were able to make it to safety.
According to local weather reports the area was affected over the holiday by severe snowdrifts and exceptionally strong winds. The AQS Saga has since been towed to a safe location so the extent of the damage can be fully assessed.
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