Pipe problem leads to smolt escape
Up to 70 farmed smolts have escaped into Loch Arienas, following a transfer pipe failure.
The smolts, which averaged 70g apiece, were being transferred by Scottish Sea Farms from their site in the Morvern loch at the time of the incident, which took place on 28th July and was reported to the Scottish Government last week.
It is the fourth escape incident to have been reported in Scotland so far this year and the second to have involved smolts, following the loss of up to 10,000 in Shetland on New Year’s Day. The others have involved up to 200 rainbow trout from a farm in Dumfries and around 800 mature salmon from a site in Shetland.
Last year there were three significant incidents – one leading to the loss of just over 2000 rainbows, another to the loss of 16,000 mature salmon, while the largest involved 300,000 salmon of around 600g each.
