The case in summary • A minke whale of four to five meters broke into the cage of Ellingsen Seafood at Skrova in Lofoten.• This led to a long and dramatic rescue operation at the farm, which ended successfully.• The whale had swum at full speed into the nota and made a hole of approximately 70 centimetres.• The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries assisted in the rescue operation, but the farming company already had an effective plan.• The whale was separated from the fish in the cage by inserting a new notch in the bill, which created a separate pocket for the whale.• Ellingsen Seafood reported a possible escape after the incident, but does not think it is likely that fish escaped. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. It was an unusual start to the working day for Ellingsen Seafood at Skrova in Lofoten on Friday. A minke whale of four to five meters had broken into the cage of the breeding company. The first of a long and dramatic rescue operation at the farm, which fortunately ended in the best way. Now the breeding facility is praised by the experts for how they handled the situation. “What do we do now?” On Friday morning, smokers at the facility in Skrova did what they always start the day with. They looked at the camera to see if their fish was doing well. – The surprise was great when they discovered that there had actually been a wave of distress among the fish. This is what the manager of Ellingsen Seafood, Line Ellingsen, tells news. Since the company started up in 1976, they have never experienced getting a whale in the cage. Manager of Ellingsen Seafood, Line Ellingsen, carries out a tray of fin whale finger food. Picture is from a festival that celebrated minke whales. Photo: Anders Carlsson The young whale had swam at full speed into the bill and bored through it. Thus, it had made a hole of approximately 70 centimeters. – I have to admit that the first thing is “what do we do now?”. Luckily it was a healthy whale and he was in good shape. And the fish was apparently not stressed by having the whale in the cage. According to the company, the whale settled in well and calmly swam around with the smolt. Many people helped to save the whale from the salmon cage at Skrova in Lofoten. Photo: The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries Despite the fact that the whale was like an egg, the company had to launch an extensive rescue operation to get it out. – There were many who stood for several hours to get it done, says Ellingsen. Received assistance from the Directorate of Fisheries The hole in the cage was temporarily sealed, before a diver arrived at the facility and had the damage repaired. The Directorate of Fisheries was among those who quickly showed up to help with the rescue operation. – If you look at the number of such incidents in the context of as much farming as there is in Norway, it is very rare that this happens. That’s what Jim Anders Edvardsen says, working as a sailing inspector in the Maritime Service in the Directorate of Fisheries. He is thus an expert in freeing marine mammals. After an extensive rescue operation, which lasted several hours, the whale was transported out of the nota. Here you can see a bit of it in a quick movie. – It is much more common for whales to become entangled in fishing gear or other things. Edvardsen says that particularly young male minke whales on migration are happy to explore things. – They have slightly different behavior than adult whales and are a bit more playful. – Did everything right But the Directorate of Fisheries did not have to do much other than watch and fly the drone at the facility at Skrove outside Lofoten. The breeding company had a plan. And it worked well. The whale was separated from the fish in the cage. They threw in another notch in the bill, and then the whale got a pocket of its own. In order to save the whale from the salmon cage, the workers at Ellingsen Seafood had to lower a new net into the net to catch the whale. Photo: Directorate of Fisheries – Then we could drop the bill so much that the whale swam out and was free, says Ellingsen. Katrine Ryeng is a researcher, veterinarian and advisor related to animal welfare for marine mammals at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (HI). She says that there are several considerations to take when there is suddenly a whale in a fish cage. – It is important that the whales do well, but also that no fish escape. This is, among other things, to prevent farmed salmon and wild salmon mixing or spreading infection. Researcher and veterinarian Kathrine Ryeng at the Institute of Marine Research says that the farm did everything right in the rescue operation of the whale. Photo: The marine research institute Ellingsen Seafood reported a possible escape after the incident. But they don’t even think it’s likely that fish escaped. The hole was 18 meters deep and the smolt was high in the cage. – With this action, it seems that they have been very clever and done everything right, says Ryeng. Happy with the outcome – But why did the whale want to enter the cage in the first place? – He was probably lured by the fact that he saw lots of fish in shoals. Whales love it. They can take several at once, says the researcher. Bale whales, like minke whales, eat by taking in a lot of water and fish, then they strain the water out through the baleen. Minke whales are between nine and ten meters long and weigh around 5 tonnes at sexual maturity. This image is intended as an illustrative image. Graphics: Egil Ursin – The whale probably plunged into the note. When he came in, perhaps he understood himself that he was a prisoner. Then he probably completely forgot why he had swum in. So then only one question remains – did the salmon cage become a large dinner table for the minke whale? – We feel confident that he had not eaten any salmon, and have not seen any mortality in the cage afterwards either, says the manager of Ellingsen Seafood. All in all, she believes that it has gone very well with both whales and fish. – We are very happy with the outcome. I hope that it is not something that will happen again. Published 13.07.2024, at 19.58
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A whale broke into a cage in Ellingsen Seafood. Quite unusual, say the experts – news Nordland
