Tens of thousands of salmon missing following net damage, says regulator.
Arctic Offshore Farming is facing scrutiny after a fish count revealed tens of thousands of salmon were unaccounted for at its development site in northern Norway, following significant damage to cage infrastructure last year.
A routine inspection ordered by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has found a shortfall of approximately 42,000 fish at the company’s “Fellesholmen” site in Tromsø municipality. The count was delayed for several months due to adverse weather but was conducted during harvest operations earlier this year.
The incident dates back to November 2024, when Arctic Offshore Farming reported severe net damage at the facility.
Escape reported after ‘significant tear’ discovered at offshore farming facility
A tear measuring 10 metres was discovered in the inner net, while a second, smaller breach of 1×3 metres was found in the outer net. At the time, the company reported that some 766,000 salmon, each averaging 2.1kg, were stocked in the affected cage.
Despite the discrepancy, the company maintains that no fish escaped as a result of the net damage, attributing the gap instead to counting inaccuracies. “Sources of error in stock estimates can produce significant deviations when several hundred thousand individuals are held in a single pen,” said Arnt Inge Berget, head of aquaculture oversight at the Directorate of Fisheries. “Low accuracy regarding biomass remains a known challenge in the industry, particularly in high-volume systems.”
Compounding the issue, Arctic Offshore Farming also informed the regulator of an earlier discrepancy: a pre-incident count conducted in October 2024 had already indicated a gap of roughly 56,000 fish compared with prior internal figures. Taken together, the data points to a substantial divergence between the company’s original biomass estimates and actual harvest volumes.
While the Directorate has not confirmed a formal escape event, Berget said the agency would continue to investigate. “There is still uncertainty regarding the potential scope of any escape at Fellesholmen,” he said.
The site operates under a Norwegian development licence, which permits companies to trial new aquaculture concepts in return for meeting specific innovation criteria. Arctic Offshore Farming’s design involves semi-offshore pens intended to reduce environmental footprint and improve fish welfare.