Salmon farming giant Mowi Canada East’s Northern Harvest Sea Farms in Newfoundland and Labrador is suspected of having infectious salmon anemia (ISA) at its Cinq Island Cove marine site, the latest incident at the troubled operations.
The potential infection comes three months after Newfoundland Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne reinstated 10 aquaculture site licences belonging to Northern Harvest Sea Farms, a division of Mowi Canada East, in the Fortune Bay region on the south coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The suspected ISA occurred in one cage in one Atlantic salmon sampled through the provincial government Department of Fisheries and Land Resources’ (FLR) species-specific aquatic animal health surveillance program.
The cage contains approximately 200,000 Atlantic salmon, and the marine site is comprised of three cages containing a total of approximately 600,000 Atlantic salmon.
The operation has been riddled with problems over the past year in particular. Last year Byrne suspended Northern Harvest’s 10 farming licenses, citing the company’s failure to disclose to the department in a timely manner all relevant information relating to a salmon mass mortality event at the sites.
In March, a site in Newfoundland and Labrador reported potential infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in three Atlantic salmon parr during a routine sampling at its hatchery.
In May, the division reported a lumpfish die-off while transferring the fish from a wellboat to a farming site.
