Lerøy reduces its estimate of escaped salmon by 40%

Lerøy Seafood Group has released an update on the fish escape from its Lerøy Midt Reitholmen facility in Hitra, Norway, earlier this month.

Initially, the company estimated that 14,000 harvest-ready salmon had escaped following damage to one of its net pens. However, the company has now revised down its initial estimate to 8,400 salmon.

“After the total number of fish has been counted on the site, and information about the movement of fish between the cages on the site during production has been included, the scope of the escape has been reduced to 8,400 salmon with an average weight of 7.3 kg,” said general manager of Lerøy Midt Harald Larssen, in a press statement.

The company says it has undertaken extensive recapture efforts, setting out 18 km of nets and catching over 800 salmon so far.

Recapture fishing is to continue with permission from Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries and the State Administrator. Efforts have thus far been successful in avoiding the capture of wild salmon, Lerøy stated.

Lerøy says it is taking the escape seriously and has consulted experts for further damage control. The company aims to track the spread of the escaped fish and implement what Larssen referred to as "targeted measures", including utilizing a tracking solution to trace the escaped salmon.

As we reported last week, biosecurity is an added complication with this escape, due to viral and bacterial pathogens which cause kidney disease and pancreas disease being previously been detected among salmon at the affected site.

However, Leroy has sought to allay fears over contamination following the incident, stating that the escaped salmon were in good health and safe for human consumption.