Farmed salmon died of natural causes
Opinion
It isn’t the first time that fish farms on Canada’s east coast have been affected by a “superchill” event, where ocean waters are cooled by extreme winter events to a temperature that actually drops below zero degrees Celsius - the level at which fresh water would freeze. Since fish like salmon are cold-blooded, their internal organs can also freeze at these temperatures. Fish farmers operating in this region have little problem with establishing the cause of mortality during such events, and such was the case last winter when one of the coldest winters on recent record hit the coast of Nova Scotia.
But, as usual, fingers were pointed at the salmon farming industry for not providing evidence of the mortalities, and for potentially hiding information about disease outbreaks, something that would serve their cause better than a naturally occurring winter chill.
The provincial Government issued a statement yesterday, explaining its findings from an investigation that shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place:
A Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture staff investigation of aquaculture sites affected by a salmon and trout fish kill earlier this year has concluded environmental conditions, not disease, were likely responsible.
"This was a harsh winter in Nova Scotia and our fish health veterinarians have concluded this was the likely cause of the fish kill experienced at sites around the province," said Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell. "No significant disease agents were detected at any of the sites and cleanup has been completed by the operators."
Financial losses from the fish kill do not involve the provincial government and no compensation will be provided.
"This is a rare situation related to one of the coldest winters we've experienced in a long time," said Mr Colwell. "As we go forward, we'll continue to proactively release information related to investigations as we have done in this case. That's part of our commitment to enhanced transparency in the regulation of aquaculture in Nova Scotia."
