After a storm in Norway, 27,000 farmed salmon escaped from a fish farm operated by the leader Mowi. While these salmon represent a quarter of the multinational’s production, they could be disastrous for wild salmon populations.
The escape of farmed animals—good news? Absolutely not, according to nature conservation organizations.
The escape took place in Troms, in the northwest of Norway, following a storm. This could pose a significant problem for wild salmon.
According to The Guardian, the company is offering a reward to fishermen who catch the escaped salmon, at 500 Norwegian kroner (approximately 43 euros) per fish captured.
These farmed salmon, weighing around 5.5 kg, could threaten wild salmon by reducing their genetic diversity, increasing the spread of sea lice infections, and intensifying competition for spawning grounds.
« 27,000 farmed salmon on the loose is a disaster for wild salmon, » said Pål Mugaas, spokesperson for Norske Lakseelver (Norwegian Salmon Rivers), to The Guardian. « Science has proven that the crossbreeding of wild stocks with farmed salmon produces offspring that, in the long term, have a low survival rate in the wild. »
Norway exports 1.2 million tons of farmed salmon annually.
In the summer of 2024, an alert was raised about wild salmon, which reached historically low levels. As a result, 33 rivers were closed to salmon fishing. Again, this summer, 42 rivers and three fjords were closed.
According to the Norwegian Scientific Advisory Committee for Atlantic Salmon, one of the main threats to wild salmon is farmed salmon. Two-thirds of the wild Atlantic salmon stocks in Norway are reported to have genetic interference from the farmed salmon that escape.
However, for Norway’s Environment Minister, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, banning open-net fish farming at sea is not on the table.
Source: Nice-Matin
