Chlorine spill impact “limited” says Grieg

THE environmental impact from a chlorine spill at a Grieg Seafood site has been “temporary and limited”, the company said.

The leak, at Grieg Seafood Finnmark’s harvesting plant in northern Norway, killed an estimated 96,000 salmon in four pens outside the plant.The incident took place on 10 August and appears to have involved 15,000 litres of chlorine, which is used to disinfect the harvesting plant.

Grieg said that the lost fish were insured and that no staff were injured in the incident.

The company engaged Akvaplan-niva, an accredited subsidiary of the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), to carry out an independent report on the impact of the spill. Chlorine is highly toxic to marine life, but it rapidly breaks down in water and the consultants’ report confirmed that the impact on the local environment was temporary.Akvaplan said that its investigation showed that fish and seabed species were already recolonising the affected area and the effect of the spill had been confined to a limited area.

Managing Director of Grieg Seafood Finnmark,Vidar Aamo Nikolaisen, said: “I am relieved that the environmental consequences are limited and temporary, and that the spill has not impacted the Altafjord. Fortunately, recovery and recolonisation around the harvesting plant will proceed quickly, according to the assessment.

“Still, this is a very serious incident. It is first and foremost a fish welfare tragedy. During the three years that each salmon is under our care, we constantly work to ensure the best possible fish health and welfare. It is painful to think about what our fish have gone through. Such a leak should not occur. We will get to the bottom of this matter and we will learn from the incident at all levels in the organisation.”

He apologised for the incident and said the company would work to rebuild the trust it had lost.