Four new breaches of containment this summer

According to statistics from the Scottish Government, four breaches of containment occurred between the 18^th of May and the 10^th of July in Scotland. The total number of escaped salmon in this period was 11,471.

On 19^th of June, 621 salmon (size not reported) escaped from Marine Harvest’s farm in Loch Linnie in the Highlands. The company said the cause of the escape was equipment failure.

Then, on the 28^th of June, 10,534 salmon (3.5kg) escaped from Marine Harvest’s site in Marulaig Bay in the Western Isles. This was due to human error.

Furthermore, on the 1^st of July, a solo salmon (3.5kg) swam away from Marine Harvest’s farm in Kingairloch in the Highlands, also due to human error.

The last incident in the period occurred at Marine Harvest’s salmon site in Groatay in the Western Isles, where 315 salmon (5.8kg) got away because of equipment failure, according to the company.

Overall, 29,237 salmon have escaped in 2009 in five incidents.

In 2008, 31,720 salmon escaped in the same time period (1 January-10 July).