Incident led to the escape of over 10,000 fish.
The trial of a ship captain who was charged after thousands of salmon escaped when his ship crashed into a salmon farm in Norway, has now been cancelled.
In November, a man in his 60s from the Faroe Islands crashed the cargo vessel “Scan Fjord” into a salmon farm off the Nordre Raudøya, Central Norway. In total, 10,766 salmon escaped from the fish farm.
The company who runs the salmon farm, Bjørøya, sent out a press release afterwards, where the company stated that the cargo boat left without reporting what had happened.
“It is very regrettable that such an event like this leads to the escape of salmon,” Bjørøya, said at the time.
“Had the boat reported the accident, the note would have been secured within a short time. Then it probably wouldn’t have escaped fish” it added.
In September, police charged the man under Norway’s Ship Safety Act. The skipper was fined EUR 2,500 or imprisonment for 21 days. The fine was not accepted, and the case went to court.
The case should have gone to court on October 3, but this was rescheduled for December 3 and 4.
But now the District court has told SalmonBusiness that the trial has now canceled.
“The fine was accepted before the main hearing and the case is closed and returned to the police,” an email from the district court said.
The CEO of Bjørøya, Ståle Ruud, has previously stated did not want to comment on the case to SalmonBusiness.
SalmonBusiness has not been able to reach the skipper from the Faroe Islands.
