Mowi boss in Newfoundland talks after salmon ‘catastrophe’
MOWI is still in discussions with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador over the future of its farming operations in east Canada, following the temporary suspension of 10 licences.
The company’s CEO, Alf-Helge Aarskog, was due to meet the fisheries minister of Newfoundland and Labrador, Gerry Byrne, earlier this month in the wake of a mass mortality in September, which Aarskog described as a ‘catastrophe’.
The incident, at Mowi’s Northern Harvest subsidiary, saw mortalities of 2.6 million fish with a biomass of approximately 5,000 tonnes, caused by low oxygen levels due to high seawater temperatures.
Added to this, there were prolonged periods with no currents or waves on the sites, said Aarskog on October 30, presenting his company’s Q3 results.
Ten out of 13 sites that Northern Harvest operates were affected, totalling 72 cages.
Aarskog said the previous owner of Northern Harvest, which Mowi took over a year ago, had farmed in the area for many years and had never experienced ‘anything like this’ which shows how farming ‘depends upon nature in many ways’.
He said the nets used on the stricken sites were too shallow, just 8m deep. The one new site Mowi has built in the area, with bigger and deeper nets, did not lose any fish.
‘It was farming practices from before –tradition – that made this happen.’
Aarskog said staff at Northern Harvest had worked hard to clean up the sites, a process that is harder in Canada than Norway, which has support industries and where it ‘was always easier to be a fish farmer’.
Working with the government and gradually building up the service industry in Newfoundland, he was optimistic about the area, though there were never any guarantees in fish farming.
‘We have a good plan for this region going forwards,’ said Aarskog, ‘it’s a fantastic area to farm fish in, done right.’
Aarskog added that the province of Newfoundland had been very supportive of fish farming, so ‘I think we will work through it’.
Byrne said earlier: ‘Our government is committed to making the aquaculture industry safer and recently implemented new policies and procedures, including enacting strict policies to compel companies to disclose disease and all mortality events, regardless of cause, in a timely manner.
‘I want to reassure the people whose livelihoods depend on the aquaculture sector that we continue to focus on solutions that strengthen policies and practices to ensure public transparency is ever present.’