Lerøy farm saved from huge ice floe

Lerøy Seafood avoided a serious loss at the weekend after a large ice floe threatened one of its fish farming facilities in the Troms and Finnmark region.

The floe measured more than 3,000 square metres and was bearing down on the site at Lyngenfjorden before the coastguard ship Bison was brought in to rescue the situation (photo: Norwegian Coastguard).

The main worry was that the ice would crash into the facility, damage the cages and lead to a large escape.

The Bison was joined by the feed vessel Eidsvaag Opal and together they managed to break up the floe and lead it away from the area, thus preventing a potentially serious incident.

The regional broadcaster NRK Troms and Finnmark reports that the operation prevented the floe from causing the loss of at least a million fish.

Part of the operation was co-ordinated by the Norwegian Armed Forces in the region.

The success of the operation will have come as a huge relief to Lerøy which has been hit by a series of potentially costly incidents in recent months.

In the autumn last year thousands of fish were reported to have died from gill disease and other probable biological issues.

The company, along with other salmon farmers, has also been affected by a series of jellyfish attacks in Norway which led to a downgrading of the final quarter results.

Last week it announced a 5,800 tonne reduction in its Q4 harvest, largely as the result of the high numbers of jellyfish in Norwegian waters over the past year.