Lerøy Aurora investigates possible escape after net damage at Follesøy site.
Lerøy Aurora has reported a suspected fish escape at its Follesøy site in Skjervøy municipality following the discovery of a tear in a net pen during a routine camera inspection.
The damage, identified on Thursday 26 June, was located at a depth of 17 metres—below the depth where salmon are normally found. The company notified the Directorate of Fisheries in line with regulations and deployed recapture nets around the site. The tear was temporarily sealed with an ROV and subsequently closed by divers, according to a company statement.
No escaped fish have been observed or recaptured so far. The salmon in the affected pen have an average weight of 1.1 kg.
In consultation with the Directorate of Fisheries, Lerøy has ordered a wellboat equipped for biomass counting to determine whether any fish have escaped. The count will take place within the next two weeks.
“This incident shows that our monitoring systems are working,” said Kurt Einar Karlsen, general manager at Lerøy Aurora. “It was the presence of wild fish—cod—at the bottom of the pen that triggered further inspection and led to the discovery of the tear.”