Big reward offered to catch 27,000 salmon that escaped from cages

A Norwegian seafood company is calling on people to catch 27,000 escaped farmed salmon, offering a $45 reward for each fish caught.

Mowi, the world's largest farmed salmon supplier, announced on February 11 that about 27,000 of its salmon escaped from a cage in Troms County on the evening of February 9 and swam into waters in northwestern Norway, according to The Guardian .

About 27,000 salmon have escaped from cages in Norway.

The company said the net separating the cages from the natural water was damaged by the storm, causing about a quarter of the 105,000 salmon it was raising to escape. The average weight of the fish was 5.5 kg.

Mowi is calling on professional "anglers" registered in Norway to find and bring fish to the reception point, where they will be rewarded with $45 (about 1.1 million VND) for each fish.

Norwegian Fisheries Agency spokesman Vegard Oen Hatten said companies are usually only allowed to recapture escaped fish within 500 metres of the cages. However, authorities visited Mowi’s facility and ordered the search area to be expanded due to the large number of escapees.

Experts say the fish could pose a major risk to wild salmon as they compete for spawning grounds and could spread disease. Interbreeding between farmed and wild fish could result in offspring with lower survival rates.

Atlantic salmon rest in a lake on the Namsen River tributary in Norway during their upstream migration to spawn.

"The escape of 27,000 farmed salmon is a disaster for wild salmon. Science has proven that crossbreeding between wild and farmed fish results in offspring with low survival rates in the wild in the long term," said Pal Mugaas, a spokesman for the wild salmon conservation organization Norske Lakseelver.

Norway exports about 1.2 million tons of farmed salmon each year. Last summer, wild salmon numbers in the country fell to historic lows, leading officials to ban salmon fishing in 33 rivers. This year, the proposed number is 42 rivers and three fjords.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trèo-thuong-lon-de-bat-27000-con-ca-hoi-xong-khoi-long-nuoi-185250212101942077.htm