Escapes from fin-fish farms is a major threat to the sustainability of the aquaculture industry. Escaped fish present a threat to natural wild stocks in terms of genetic dilution of wild populations as well as potentially competing with wild stocks for food and habitat. The potential threat to wild Atlantic salmon stocks has recieved media attention in Scotland. However, the 'escapes' issue is not just reserved for Atlantic salmon and has been reported for all the major cultured fish species across Europe including Atlantic cod, rainbow trout, sea bass and seabream.

Prevent Escape is a new project funded by the EU which aims to carry out a full assessment of fish farm escapes through 6 workpackages. The first WP will be aimed at achieving efficient project coordination and management. The four following WPs will generate fundamental knowledge regarding structural, operational (WP 2 MAP Escape) and biological causes (WP 3 PRE Escape) of escapes, the pattern and extent of escapes of eggs (WP 5 EGG Escape) and larger fish (WP 4 POST Escape) from sea-cages, and the behaviour of fish after escape (WP 4 POST Escape). The final workpackage (WP 6 PREVENT Escape) will focus on aquaculture structures, materials, designs and operational methods to prevent escapes and recapture technologies to mitigate the effects of escapes when they occur will be carried out.

The project should contribute to a better understanding of the issues surrounding fish farm escapes and provide a means to set national and international standards through siting recommendations, improved containment technology, improved cage management and operational procedures.

The project is being led by SINTEF in Norway. SAMS will be following up the work of Elizabeth Adey whose PhD showed that wild and farmed Salmon can be distinguished from their scale micro-chemistry. SAMS will be testing whether it is possible to distinguish farmed cod, bass and bream from their wild conspecifics and assess whether this method can be developed as a practical assessment tool for identifying escapes.

 For more information on thr Prevent Escapes project click here