Abstract.To estimate the proportion of escaped fanned Atlantic salmon.Salmo salarL., at the feeding grounds in the north‐east Atlantic Ocean, samples of salmon caught with long‐lines north of the Faroe Islands were examined. Identification of reared fish was carried out using scale analysis. The proportion of fanned fish was estimated to range from 25 to 48 in the different samples, suggesting that high numbers of escaped farmed salmon occur in the Norwegian Sea. The farmed fish were significantly smaller in size than the wild salmon. Although it is suggested that most of the farmed fish are of Norwegian origin, farmed fish of Scottish, Faroese and Irish origin are also believed to be present. If not accounted for, high numbers of reared salmon in fisheries and stocks will seriously affect the assessments of fisheries and stocks of wild sal
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