Took care of an uninvited guest of 250 kilos.
On Friday afternoon, SalmonBusiness reported that salmon farmer Lingalaks had received an unexpected guest. A bluefin tuna had torpedoed through one of the company’s salmon cages at the Andal site in Bømlo municipality, Western Norway.
Lingalaks directed a wellboat to take care of the tuna. The wellboat arrived on Friday night, and with that the hunt for the big fish could begin. And it did not last very long. Early Saturday morning, Lingalaks sent photos of the catch.
“The tuna goes to the processing plant at Brandasund. We get a few kroner for it, but it is not exactly a plus project,” said managing director Kristian Botnen to SalmonBusiness.
He added that the bluefin tuna was 2.70 meters long and weighed 250 kilos.
Lingalaks has released recapture nets near the cage. So far no escaped salmon has been caught.
Bluefin tuna are the largest of the tuna species. The fish can reach a length of more than three meters and a weight of more than 600 kilos. They are extremely fast swimmers with a top speed, according to Wikipedia, of up to 100 kilometres per hour. They are easily capable of torpedoing a farming net.
This is not the first time a bluefin has burst into a salmon cage. This is the latest is a series of similar incidents in recent years, especially in late summer or early autumn when the tuna are pursuing shoals of mackerel.
