The 13 salmon are laid out on a bench, dead, bagged up and ready to be sent to the authorities. They aren鈥檛 a pretty sight. They were caught and killed by specialist divers in the river in the remote and rugged Westfjords of Iceland.
Most have gaping wounds from spear guns, and all show signs of having been eaten alive by parasites. One has a missing eye socket, gnawed away by a salmon louse.
These are farmed Atlantic salmon that escaped from a pen in Patreksfj枚r冒ur, one of the epicentres of Iceland鈥檚 nascent salmon farming industry, where fish are confined in circular sea cages, a technique known as open-pen farming. The problems with that industry are well-documented 鈥� animal welfare issues, disease, pollution and escaping fish 鈥� but Iceland is a special case.
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Its wild population of Atlantic salmon numbers about 50,000. They have been breeding in isolation since the end of the last glacial period some 11,000 years ago and are genetically distinct from farmed salmon, albeit still the same species, according to at Iceland鈥檚 Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI) in Hafnarfj枚r冒ur. In the event of a big escape, he fears the wild ones will interbreed with farmed salmon and be genetically altered forever.
That is exactly what is happening. On 21 August, Icelandic farming company which collectively hold around a million fish. It emptied the pen, counted the fish and reported to the Icelandic authorities that about 3500 mature salmon had escaped.
That triggered a round-up operation, starting with nets cast across the mouth of the fjord. But that was shutting the door after the salmon had bolted. Nobody knows exactly when the escape happened and, by mid-September, escapees had been located in rivers 400 kilometres away, according to at the NGO .
In the five years before this event, just 42 escapees had been caught. By the time I left Iceland, 172 had been caught in the space of a month. But the divers have no hope of spearing all of them, says Gu冒mundsson. 鈥淣ot possible. They are all around and the divers are not looking at all the rivers.鈥�
That threatens a disastrous hybridisation event. There have been previous escapes of many young fish that probably all died, but these escapees were ready to breed and will do so. Genetic studies by Gu冒mundsson show that , around 6900 tonnes per year.
In 2022, production was 43,000 tonnes, and the industry wants to scale up big time, based on a 2019 risk assessment by the MFRI, which estimated that 106,500 tonnes of salmon could be farmed without causing a negative impact on the wild population.
女生小视频s are doubtful. The assessment was based on data from Norway, where the wild salmon are much closer genetically to farmed ones. 鈥淭he Icelandic population is part of the biodiversity of Atlantic salmon,鈥� says Gu冒mundsson. 鈥淲hen they hybridise, it can lead to a decline in the populations.鈥�
鈥淪ome scientists have discussed that you might see an extinction vortex if you get hybridisation again and again for a long time,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut now the common view is that they might not get extinct, but be severely damaged.鈥�
Driving back to Reykjavik, a news bulletin comes on the radio announcing that the . A and said the company is working to make sure it doesn鈥檛 happen again.
The only way to stop the rot is to ban open-pen salmon farming in Iceland, says J贸n Kaldal at the . 鈥淭he question is not if the nets will break, just when,鈥� he says. 鈥淕et them out of the sea. No compromises.鈥�
Graham Lawton鈥檚 trip was funded by Patagonia, .
