Norway shocked by 27-fold surge in salmon escapes

Published Feb 16, 2025

Tridge summary

In 2025, Norway has seen a significant surge in salmon escapes from farm pens, with two major companies, Mowi and Leroy Seafood, involved. This surge has led to concerns about economic losses and the impact on wild salmon populations. The most recent incident occurred at Mowi's Storvika Vest facility, where a storm caused over 27,000 salmon to escape. The total number of escapes has increased from 1,547 in 2023 to 92,000 in 2024. These escapes not only cause economic loss but also compete with wild salmon for food and risk genetic pollution. Both the industry and the Norwegian Fisheries Administration are working to prevent further escapes and discuss ways to reduce their environmental impact.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Why is there a surge in salmon escapes? Data shows that in these escape incidents in early 2025, two major farming companies, Mowi and Leroy Seafood, were involved. Compared with the "catastrophic" incident of 190,000 salmon escaping in 2019, the number of escapes has gradually decreased in recent years. However, this year's escape situation has deteriorated significantly, especially the sudden increase in just six weeks, which has caused deep concern to the Norwegian Fisheries Administration and relevant departments. According to the Norwegian Fisheries Administration, the number of escapees in 2023 was 1,547, and in 2024 it surged to 92,000. Among them, 65,000 fish escaped from Mowi's Glomfjord II farm, and the latest incident occurred at Mowi's Storvika Vest facility, where about 27,000 salmon that were about to be harvested escaped due to damage to the cages during the storm. The average weight of each escaped salmon was 5.5 kg. Serious consequences of a runaway incident ...

Source: Foodmate