Wild salmon may suffer as 5,000 farmed fish escape

Up to 5,000 farmed salmon may have escaped from a site in County Antrim, posing a threat to the long-term health of Ireland’s wild salmon population. 

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said “a rip in the net of a farmed salmon cage” was found at the Glenarm site on 29 September. It added that staff were “currently assessing the situation and any actions that need to be taken”. 

Local angling groups have expressed concern that the escaped salmon will reproduce with the wild population. The chairman of the Ulster Angling Federation, Gary Houston, said breeding could reduce the fitness of any offspring, resulting in lower survival rates. He added that salmon in Northern Ireland were “under a severe threat of extinction from farm escapes, pollution and poor in-river and sea survival”. 

Farmed salmon are treated with a variety of antibiotics and anti-sea lice chemicals, but these are usually withdrawn before the fish are slaughtered. Mr Houston warned that the escaped fish will not have gone through this withdrawal and may be unfit to eat. “They [DAERA] should be going out and catching those salmon… It shouldn’t be that difficult for them,” he suggested. 

DAERA has confirmed that the cages have been repaired and that divers were servicing and inspecting the remaining cages in Glenarm and Red Bay.