Mass escape from Norway's fish farms threatens wild salmon

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

OSLO (AFP) — Some 790,000 salmon and trout escaped from Norwegian fish farms last year, up 10 percent on the previous year and a trend that poses a serious threat to wild salmon, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has warned. The lax security at fish farms is "a criminal act that must be sanctioned the same as a hold-up or a rape," the head of the directorate, Peter Gullestad, told AFP.

The fish raised on farms are carriers of parasites such as sea lice, which infect wild salmon and other maritime life. The fish that escape the farms, located in fjords and rivers along Norway's west coast, infect young wild salmon before they head off to the open sea, threatening their immune systems which are not yet fully developed. "It's dramatic. We're talking about a genetic...