Aquaculture company CEO to visit N.L.

Mowi CEO Alf-helge Aarskog will be in Newfoundland and Labrador this week to answer questions about a mass salmon die-off on the province’s south coast in August.

The Norwegian company owns Northern Harvest Seafoods, which operates on the south coast. In September the company announced 2.6 million farmed salmon had died in its cages on the south coast. The revelation came more than a month after most of the deaths happened.

The meeting is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday.

Fisheries and Land Resources Minister Gerry Byrne says it’s an important meeting.

“I’m calling the CEO here so we can discuss the future of the company here in Newfoundland and Labrador. I’m calling him here so we can have a back and forth as to how we expect this company to behave,” said Byrne.

As a result of the die-off and issues communicating the die-off, the province suspended 10 of company’s 13 licences.

Byrne says he doesn’t have any specific requirements for the company to meet for the licences to be reinstated.

“We’re going to finish our investigation. I’m not going to presuppose what exactly we’re going to demand of the company to get those licences back until I know the full facts of the situation,” he said.

Opposition Fisheries Critic Kevin Parsons says Byrne needs to be removed as Fisheries minister over his handling of the issue.

“I think they should replace Gerry Byrne as minister. There’s people on the south coast who should have confidence in him, and they don’t,” Parsons said.

“It’s an important industry to the province and we have to make sure we have proper leadership to ensure this industry survives and is sustainable both environmentally and economically.”

Premier Dwight Ball stated he has full confidence in Byrne as minister and will not remove him.