200,000 fry died at hatchery after oxygen cone ruptured
An explosion in an oxygen cone led to the deaths of around 200,000 Arctic char fry at a Norwegian hatchery.
The explosion occurred in the afternoon of July 24, and with the help of a plumber the system at Sigerfjord Fisk was up and running at 2am. About half of the fry were saved.
“Mostly it’s false alarms we get, but when I saw that it concerned a cone that adds oxygen to the water I became more worried,” owner Trond Geir Reinsnes told Bladet Vesterålen.
“Losing 200,000 out of 650,000 fish is not a full crisis. It would have been worse if we had had fewer hatchlings.”
Taking the knocks
Reinsnes and his staff have now had to invest in new cones and are working towards increasing production to cover the loss.
“When you work with live animals, you have to expect some knocks. It is then important to look ahead, in order to be able to work your way up again.”
The incident is being investigated, and Reinsens told the newspaper that he will receive compensation for the lost fish.
Sigerfjord Fisk AS is Norway’s largest supplier of Arctic char. The company is based in Sigerfjord in Sortland municipality in Vesterålen and has production facilities in Fiskfjord in Hadsel municipality on Hinnøya.
