The Norwegian Environmental Protection Association reports Lerøy after 14,000 salmon escaped

The Norwegian Environmental Protection Association (NMF) reported the escape to the police in Trondheim on Wednesday.

– The NMF takes a very serious view of all salmon escapes, but is particularly concerned as the escaped salmon was also seriously ill. If this salmon infects wild salmon in the rivers Trondheimsfjorden, it might quickly mean the hook on the door for a number of native wild salmon strains in the fjord, says regional manager Arne Roger Hansen for NMF in Central Norway in an email to NTB.

Probably goes up in the rivers

The ready-to-slaughter fish in the facility had an average weight of 7.3 kilograms and were infected with two serious salmon diseases: Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) and the kidney disease PD were detected on salmon in the facility. Due to the infection, the plant at Reitholmen in Hitra was closed by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Because the escaped salmon is so large, fish health professor Are Nylund at the University of Bergen believes that it is mostly likely that the fish will end up in the rivers. This presents a significant risk of BKD infection to wild salmon.

– We know that the salmon is close to the red list and that BKD can cause mortality to fry, so this is serious, Nylund told Dagbladet earlier this week.

My deepest apologies

Lerøy Midt discovered a groove damage at the plant at Reitholmen in Fillfjorden in Hitra municipality on the evening of Sunday 5 May.

– We deeply regret the incident. This should not happen. We have a vision of zero escapes and take this very seriously. Our priority now is to limit the extent of the damage and learn from the incident to avoid future escapes, said general manager Harald Larssen in Lerøy Midt in a press release on Monday evening.