A seafood company in Norway is offering a bounty on its salmon after some 27,000 of them escaped from a farm.
Mowi, the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon, announced recently that about a quarter of its stock had escaped after a fence was damaged during a storm.
The fish are believed to be in the waters off the coast of Troms, a city in northwest Norway, the Norwegian media outlet VG reported earlier this week.
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In an attempt to get the fish back, Mowi is offering a reward of 500 kroner – about $44 in U.S. dollars – per fish that is caught by a “registered fisherman” and is brought to a designated center, VG said.
The escaped fish were ready to be harvested, said Mowi, and weigh about 12 pounds each.
The salmon farming company Mowi is offering about $45 per returned fish after a massive escape at one of its farms. (Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The average weight of an Atlantic salmon is between eight and 12 pounds, according to the website for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service.
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A salmon researcher told VG that there are risks to the wild salmon population if the farmed fish are not recaptured.
Atlantic salmon are farmed in rings like the ones shown above. A storm recently damaged a ring — leading to an escape of an estimated 27,000 farmed Atlantic salmon. (Viken Kantarci/AFP via Getty Images)
If the farmed salmon spawn with the wild salmon, the characteristics of the farmed salmon – increased size and growth rates – could change the wild salmon.
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That’s according to Monica Solberg, a researcher at Norway’s Institute of Marine Research, who shared that information with VG.
Atlantic salmon are about 12 pounds when fully grown. (Ron Wurzer/Getty Images)
Additionally, as the number of wild salmon has declined over time, it is “extra important” to keep the farmed salmon and wild salmon populations separate, she said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Mowi for further comment.
