What a cheeky wee minke!

Staff at a salmon farm in Norway discovered a minke whale had entered a pen containing smolts when they came to work last Friday.

“A young whale had drilled its way through the net and made a hole of approx. 70cm,” Ellingsen Seafood stated on social media.

Managing director Line Ellingsen told Fosh Farming Expert’s Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no, that the incident took place at its Stabben site in Ofotfjord, Nordland, about 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Catch nets were in place by 08:00. The hole was provisionally sealed, before divers arrived at the facility at around 10:00 and repaired the damage.

“In accordance with the regulations, we have reported a possible escape, although we expect that in the event it is very limited as the hole was 18 metres deep and the smolts are high in the cage,” wrote the company.

The whale is said to have been 4–5 metres long and found itself at home in the cage, where it calmly swam around together with the smolts.

“As neither whale nor salmon were particularly stressed, it gave us time to plan how to get the whale free.”

That same evening, the company got the whale out of the net.

“It is in good shape. The same is true of the salmon,” states the company, which also thanked the Directorate of Fisheries for good cooperation, planning and follow-up along the way.

“Thanks to Folden Akva for excellent assistance. And not least thanks to the good employees at Ellingsen Seafood who keep a cool head and know exactly how the job should be done,” wrote the company.