27,000 Farmed Salmon Escape From Seafood Company off Norwegian Coast, Threatening Wild Fish
A severe storm off the Norwegian coast led to the escape of approximately 27,000 farmed salmon from Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer, raising concerns among environmentalists and fisheries officials.
Mowi is offering a bounty of approximately $44.65 for each salmon caught. The incident occurred at the Storvika V facility in Troms, where the storm reportedly damaged a cage’s outer ring and caused a mooring fire. In response, Norwegian authorities ordered Mowi to expand its recapture operations beyond the standard 500-meter zone, with a $44.65 bounty per recaptured fish offered to local fishers.
Normally, fish farmers are only allowed to conduct recapture operations within a 500-metre zone around the facility in the event of an escape. However, based on the potential scale of this incident, Mowi was instructed to extend recapture efforts beyond this zone.
Vegard Oen Hatten, fisheries directorate spokesperson, as The Guardian reported
Environmental groups warn that the mass escape threatens wild salmon populations through genetic dilution, increased competition, and heightened sea lice infections.
Farmed salmon have been classed as a major threat to wild salmon by the Norwegian Atlantic salmon scientific advisory committee. Two-thirds of Norway’s wild Atlantic salmon stocks are thought to have experienced genetic interference from escaped farmed salmon.
“[F]armed salmon are made to be fat and slow and be effective for the industry,” said investigative reporter Simen Saetre, as reported by NPR. “When they mate with the wild salmon, then also the wild salmon becomes slow and fat and easy to catch for predators.”
27,000 farmed salmon on the run is a disaster for wild salmon. Science has proved that interbreeding between wild stocks and farmed salmon produce offspring that in the long term has low survival rate in nature.
Pål Mugaas, spokesperson for Norske Lakseelver (Norwegian Salmon Rivers).
Norway exports 1.32 million tons of farmed salmon each year, which is a problem for wild salmon. Norway’s wild salmon numbers hit record lows in 2024, prompting the closure of multiple rivers and fjords to salmon fishing. Despite mounting concerns, Norway’s environment minister recently ruled out banning open-net fish farms, opting instead to seek an “acceptable” pollution level for wild salmon.
