The number of escaped farmed salmon in Norwegian rivers has stabilized after a few years of decline, according to a recent Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries report.
The amount of rivers included in the directorate's monitoring program increased 42 percent to 200 rivers between 2014 and 2019, giving officials more data to gauge the impact of farmed salmon on troubled wild Atlantic stocks.
A total of 55 rivers still have what the directorate considers moderate to high levels of escaped farmed salmon running in them based on the monitoring program results.
Among the biggest challenges for salmon farmers in 2019 was dealing with fish escapes. More than 53 escape incidents were reported in 2019, according to figures from the directorate.
In total, 270,893 salmon escapes were recorded, almost double the year prior.
