Ocean Trout Farms - Rainbow Trout Escape

Well it has happened again. Another 2,000 Rainbow Trout have escaped from Ocean Trout Farms, a sea based aquaculture operation located in Queens County, Nova Scotia.

The operators of the fish farm think hungry seals may have caused the problem that allowed the fish to escape.

The last time Ocean Trout Farms was mentioned here was in 2007 when 500,000 Rainbow Trout escaped during Hurricane Noel.

Those trout showed up in rivers along the coast from the Mersey and Medway all the way to the Sackville River here in the HRM.

The fear is of course that the fish may carry diseases and parasites from living in farm conditions that could get into the wild populations of Atlantic Salmon and Speckled Trout here.

 There is also concern that non-native Rainbow Trout could colonize some of the local rivers and lakes putting the native species under critical pressure.

This escape happened earlier this month but I heard nothing about it until I happened to see a small article in today's newspaper. I wonder what obligation this company is under to report escapes, mortalities, disease outbreaks or parasitic infestations? Having said that, I am not sure what value that information would have after the fact anyway.

More Fish Farm Escapes

Well I was reading The Sun, a UK paper the other day and saw this story by J. Pyatt.

By coincidence I also recently watched the movie, “The Great Escape”, which might be why this story and the photos caught my eye.

Supposedly the brown trout leaped from a breeding pond into the pipe carrying fresh water from a stream about thirty feet away. Those tunnels can sure come in handy.

You can read the whole story here at the Sun.

Photos by Dennis Bright, at Alresford, Hants.

I would be interested in whether you think there is a bit of Photo Shopping going on here.