As many as 1.8 million farmed fish from Mowi-owned Northern Harvest Sea Farms in Newfoundland may have died, reported The Globe and Mail.

The die-off, according to Northern Harvest, was due to prolonged high water temperatures at some sea sites on the south coast of Newfoundland. Workers are still processing the decomposing waste, as they have been for weeks, producing a pink fish sludge, processed on land then dumped back at sea.

Fisheries unions have stated their concern over the impact of the fish sludge.