Fish can escape from net pens damaged by storms, predators, or even the farmed fish themselves. Scientific perspectives on the impact of escaped fish on wild stocks vary. For this reason, and for cost effectiveness, the industry has developed more durable equipment in recent years. Today's cages and anchoring systems are far more robust, and have dramatically reduced the number of escaped fish.

Yet cage breaks do happen, and to address the potential for fish escapes in the high energy environment of the open ocean, we have developed a suite of engineering tools to design and evaluate mooring systems and cages that can withstand extreme conditions.

Sea cages are submerged at least 40 feet below the surface to reduce the risk of ship collisions and minimize impact from waves and wind. A containment management plan, based on the principles of a HACCP risk analysis program, includes frequent inspection and maintenance as well as procedures to prevent escapement during stocking, sampling, harvesting and transport operations.