Vertical movements of “escaped” farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)—a simulation study in a western Norwegian fjord

Skilbrei, O. T., Holst, J. C., Asplin, L., and Holm, M. 2009. Vertical movements of “escaped” farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)—a simulation study in a western Norwegian fjord. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 278–288.To study the vertical distribution of fish that had been allowed to escape, farmed Atlantic salmon were tagged with acoustic tags equipped with depth sensors, and then released on five different dates in the course of a year from two fish farms in the Hardanger Fjord in western Norway. Release stimulated the fish to dive to deeper than 15 m during the first hours or days post-release, often down to 50–80 m. However, during the following 4 weeks, most of the escapees spent most of their time above the pycnocline at depths of 0–4 m. The fish were more widely distributed in the water column after release during winter, but still spent most of the time in the cold surface layers. There was a wide range in the vertical distribution of individual fish, and the proportion of detections below 14-m depth ranged from 0 to 90%. There was a significant diurnal cycle in all seasons except midsummer, when the fish were less abundant in the upper layer during daylight, especially on brighter days. The results suggest that salmon diving activity following escape may complicate the recapture of escaped fish at the farm site but that the subsequent tendency of most fish to stay near the surface, virtually irrespective of the time of year, may facilitate recapture.