Norwegian seafood company Mowi offering bounty for return of escaped salmon

The Guardian reports that Norwegian seafood company Mowi is offering a bounty to individuals who catch some of the more than 27,000 salmon that had escaped from an offshore farm in Norwegian waters.

Mowi is prepared to offer NOK500 (US$40) in exchange for each salmon caught and returned to the company's farm in Troms in northwestern Norway.

Mowi first learned of the escape on Sunday, February 9, when company technicians discovered that one of the pens at the Troms farm had become damaged as a result of a recent storm.

Norwegian fisheries authorities have since inspected the damaged pen and issued an order to recapture the escaped salmon, which weigh 5.5 kg on average.

Mowi has also been authorised to extend recapture efforts beyond the 500-metre outer limit normally imposed following such an incident.

A Norwegian fisheries official said the extended coverage was permitted due to the "potential scale of [the] incident."

Mowi has advised those who manage to capture any escaped salmon to submit these at designated reception centres in exchange for the NOK500 bounty.