Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne says there is no evidence of escaped farmed salmon after another farmed salmon die-off on the province’s south coast.
Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon farm on the province’s south coast reported 77,000 dead salmon to the department of fisheries and land resources on Feb. 16, according to Byrne. The dead salmon represent about 14 per cent of the 550,000 salmon contained in eight pens in the operation.
Byrne says the investigation into the cause of the die-off is still ongoing.
“What we know is that the bulk of the mortality — almost exclusively that we understand — occurred in two of the eight cages that were located at the Manual Arm site,” said Byrne.
“We are concerned. I’m personally very concerned and the department is concerned as to what the cause was. There is some evidence that there was some physical trauma on the fish.”
Byrne says early evidence suggests harsh winter weather may have jostled the cages, causing injuries to the fish.
“It may be a possibility that two of the cages may have come loose and with that rolling motion from the storm action, may have caused some of that physical trauma,” he said.
The federal department of Disheries and Oceans arrived at the scene on Tuesday for their part in the investigation. As yet, Byrne says there is no evidence of disease in the fish.
It’s the second salmon die-off on the south coast of the province in recent memory.
In August 2019, Mowi Seafarms’ Northern Harvest operation reported 2.6 million dead salmon. The Marine Institute launched an investigation into the mass death event, which has yet to be made public.
The company says warmer than average water temperatures may have caused the death. With warmer water near the surface, the fish would likely have swam to the bottom of the sea cages. While pointing themselves downward, the salmon would have effectively drowned themselves.
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