FACTSHEET

October 2009

Escaped fish
A factsheet on the escape of
fish from fish farming
facilities. Causes, measures
and results.

Decline in escaped fish Why we

from fish farming need to keep
fish “at home”
facilities Number of escaped cod Rømt
Torsk torsk The aquaculture industry has
Laks (Tall i 1000)
(numbers in thousands)
290
intensified efforts to prevent
920 259 escapes, and focus on this every
Number of escaped salmon 213 day, all year round.
Antallinrømt
(numbers laks
thousands)
(Tall i 1000)
715 85
The most important
52 consideration is related to wild
20
553 salmon and other wild fish.
477 !""#$ !""!$ !""%$ !""&$ !""'$ !""($ !"")$ !""*$!""+,$
There is fear of a negative
407 impact on local stocks.

272 290 Escape is unprofitable. Each

escaped fish will have a negative
112 87 impact on the fish farmer’s
profits, which is an important
driving force behind continued
work to prevent escapes.
!""#$ !""!$ !""%$ !""&$ !""'$ !""($ !"")$ !""*$!""+,$
The aquaculture industry is
Official escape statistics for salmon and cod in fish farms, as at 24.6.2009
concerned with being
Source: The Directorate of Fisheries.
environmentally sustainable, and
In 2007 the annual general escapes must be reduced to a will therefore do what it
meeting of the FHL declared a minimum. Many takes to ensure that the
zero vision for escaped fish. aquaculture companies positive trend in
This is also in line with the have an equivalent escape statistics
authorities’ vision. vision and goal within shown in recent
their own companies. years will continue.
The escape of farmed fish is
undesirable for the aquaculture Fish farmers take the The further
industry, both in terms of the problem of escaping growth and
environment and to avoid financial fish extremely framework of the
loss. The operative goal for the seriously, and most are industry will
industry is to reach a level where highly successful in depend on its ability
escaped farmed fish do not have a their work to prevent to be environ-
negative effect on wild fish. This escapes. mentally sustainable,
means that the number of escaped also regarding escapes.
fish and the extent of individual This is demonstrated both in the

Good preparation is decisive should an accident occur

All Norwegian fish farming facilities are obliged to have emergency plans that come into effect in the
event that fish escape. All employees at the facility must know how escapes can be discovered, limited
and reported. The emergency plan also describes how to secure the facility and start recapture as soon
as possible after the escape has taken place.
 Reasons why
fish escape

Slaughtered quantity of salmon (rounded weight in tonnes)

There are several reasons behind
escape incidents. Facility lapses Slauthered qty

and breakdowns have been the Escaped salmon

Escaped salmon (number in thousands)

reason for a number of incidents.
In addition flotsam in the sea,
predators and boats running into
the facilities have caused damage
to the nets and thus caused
escapes.

Measures
that work
Fish farmers, the authorities and a
number of expert bodies have
together and in different ways
contributed to reduce escapes in
recent years.
New regulations: The NYTEK
1 regulations (and the NS 9415
standard) have been
The figure shows how the production of salmon has increased while the number of
escaped salmon has fallen. Source: The Directorate of Fisheries’ statistics and FHL.
introduced. The industry
helped draw up their contents. official escape statistics for farmed escaped, only 0.04 percent of
fish recorded by the Directorate of salmon escaped in 2008. To put it
More robust equipment:
2 Companies have invested
billions of Norwegian Kroner in
Fisheries on the basis of escapes
notified by the fish farmers, and in
another way: 99.9% of salmon do
not escape. This is positive for both
new equipment. statistics from the monitoring fishery wild salmon and the fish farmer, and
of escaped salmon which is carried inspires to continue the hard work to
Better routines: Companies out in many of our most important prevent escapes.
3 have improved their routines,
strengthened coordination and
salmon rivers. Both statistics
demonstrate a falling trend as a The trend is not so positive for the
worked on changing attitudes, result of fewer escaped fish. cod industry. A trawler destroyed the
both internally and with mooring lines at a facility
collaborating operators. The escape statistics are and caused an escape
official and available on the that made up 68% of the
Raising the level of
4 expertise: A number of
training courses in escape
Directorate of Fisheries’
web page. Results from Official
total escaped fish
statistics for cod in 2008.
prevention have been run for recent years’ fish up to date
fish farmers. Important topics monitoring in rivers are statistics: This incident was also a
have included preventive also available there. fiskeridir.no reminder that all activity
measures and learning from involves a risk. The
previous incidents. The trend in the number of industry shall and must
escape incidents for salmon do it’s very best to
Research: The review and and trout has been positive prevent escapes, but is
5 analysis of incidents, as well
as the development of new
and operative goals have been unable to prevail over all conditions,
solutions have contributed to reached with a good margin. For for instance inattentive boat
lower escape statistics. salmon the number of escaped fish fell captains.
by 61% in 2008 compared with the
Systematic: FHL’s own previous year. The decline for rainbow A systematic review of what causes
6 Escape Committee and the
governmental Aquaculture
trout was even larger. Looking at the
trend in escaped fish and escape
the different types of escapes will be
a positive contribution regarding risk
Escape Commission work incidents compared with production assessments and preventive
systematically to growth, one finds the same positive measures. This is also important
strengthen work on trend in recent years (figure above). regarding conditions the fish farmer
escape pre-
has no direct influence or control
vention.
While 10 years ago around 0.46 over.
percent of released salmon smolt

Other sources This factsheet is published by The Norwegian Seafood

The Norwegian Directorate Federation (FHL). Comprehensive information about
of Fisheries: www.fiskeridir.no escapes and other relevant topics can be found in FHL’s
The Fishery and Aquaculture Environmental Report for 2008. FHL is the largest
Industry Research Fund: www.fhf.no employer organisation for the seafood industry and covers the entire value chain,
The Aquaculture Escape Commission:
from fjord to table. FHL is affiliated with NHO. See also www.fhl.no/miljo
www.rommingskommisjonen.no