Lerøy Midt's aquaculture farm. The company has estimated a preliminary escape extent of 5,000 salmon.
Lerøy Seafood Group
Lerøy Midt AS reported last week a salmon escape incident due to net damage at the Naustneset site in Tingvollfjorden in Gjemnes municipality, Møre og Romsdal.
The company has explained through a statement that it requested extra wellboat capacity so the relevant net could be emptied of remaining fish. Therefore, it has been estimated a preliminary escape extent of 5,000 salmon with an approximately 6 kg of weight each.
"Our contingency plan was immediately put into action," Harald Larssen, Managing Director of Lerøy Midt, explained. "We have deployed 1,200 meters of recapture nets within the area for which we have permission, and we are now awaiting clearance from the County Governor so that we can quickly implement recapture in a larger area."
On the other hand, the Directorate of Fisheries confirmed that it will arrange an escape inspection at both the site and the net workshop. In addition, the institution, in dialogue with the County Governor, has notified of a requirement for expanded recapture in the area from Angvik to the north of Kvalvik.
Regarding this, the Managing Director indicated: "We maintain a close dialogue with relevant authorities and stakeholders, including the Directorate of Fisheries, and collaborate closely with them to handle the situation as efficiently as possible."
Also, the statement clarifies that the company requested assistance from local fishermen, who could keep the fish for themselves or deliver it to Lerøy and received a 350 NOK reward per fish.
"We deeply apologize for the incident. We have a vision of zero escapes and take this very seriously. Lerøy has its own environmental and safety group, which has now begun the work of identifying the cause of the escape. Our priority is to limit the damage and learn from the incident to prevent future escapes," concluded Larssen.
In February, Lerøy Seafood informed that the slaughterhouse in Lerøy Midt has been brought to particular attention due to listeria control led by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.