The Scotsman reported that it is the biggest escape from a Scottish mainland marine salmon farm since 2009 at Strone Point in Argyll when nearly 59,000 fish escaped from a farm operated by Lighthouse Caledonia.
Marine Harvest estimates that the salmon escape, which occurred on 2 June, has cost the company around £240,000.
The affected cage contained 24,000 salmon in total and the 16,000 that escaped are thought to have weighed an average of 10lbs each.