Canadian seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture's Cold Ocean salmon farming operations reported Monday nearly 29 percent of the operations 550,000 fish have died, significantly higher than the 14 to 19 percent the company initially reported in March.

Cooke continued to blame the mortalities near Baie d'Espoir on February's severe winter storm events in the province.

The Canadian government has been closely following aquaculture companies in the province since last year when a massive die-off occured a Mowi-owned Northern Harvest Sea Farms operation in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland.