Cooke Aquaculture has been impacted by salmon mortalities at its farm sites located off Black Island, near the town of Frenchboro, Maine, U.S.A.
According to company statement, the mortalities were caused by “uncommonly low oxygen levels" in the cages.
Cooke Aquaculture Vice President of Public Relations Joel Richardson told SeafoodSource remediation work to clean up the mortalities was completed on 27 August, and that they were a “low percentage of our overall salmon harvest at the site.”
“We are in the process of concluding our reporting with the state regulators,” Richardson said.
According to the Cooke statement, the fish are being disposed of per standard operating procedures, and that the farms are operating as normal following the mortalities.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection Communications and Outreach Coordinator Beth Chase told SeafoodSource it is investigating the incident.
“DEP staff conducted an on-site inspection at the Cooke Aquaculture facility on Tuesday [31 August],” she said. “Staff will review the data collected yesterday and data provided by Cooke Aquaculture to determine whether or not there was a compliance issue related to the recent mortalities.”
The exact number of salmon killed by the low oxygen levels was not disclosed.
Photo courtesy of Cooke Aquaculture