However SalMar has now put a 1.2 km of sea net around the cage.
On Monday, the crew on board discovered that “Ocean Farm 1″‘s seabed moor was leaning. The issue was quickly corrected and measures were taken for capture the escaped fish, SalMar announced in a press release.
The Directorate of Fisheries was informed about the issue that took place at the huge salmon farm in the Trøndelag region, central Norway and SalMar has taken steps to prevent any similar recurrence from happening. SalMar said they will cooperate with fishing authorities, and assist them in clarifying any details of events and causes.
Preliminary investigations indicate that part of the structure was bent due to water coming in through a hatch in a tank system, a supportive part of a sliding bulkhead which was inside the cage. The closure was opened for inspection the day before and by mistake had been left open. The structural integrity remains intact.
The onboard log shows that some parts of the net were at the most 18cms below sea level. During this period, a small number of salmon swam out of the inner part. 36 salmon were immediately caught by a safety net on the outside. Another 21 salmon were later reportedly caught by a fisherman in the area. It is unclear whether these are fish were from the company.
According to current safety procedures, a total of 1.2kms of nets were already placed on Monday. By Tuesday morning 12 salmon had been caught in this net. This demonstrates that only a small number of fish came out of the cage before the issue was corrected.
“So far we’ve recapture 69 salmon around the cage, which indicates that the incident had a limited effect, but we take this seriously,” said Olav-Andreas Ervik, chief executive officer.
