The world’s largest salmon farmer continues to mismanage its environmental protection and biosecurity efforts, the Pure Salmon Campaign alleged on Monday.
Norway-based Marine Harvest, which operates salmon farms in Norway, Chile and Canada, must separate its farmed fish from wild fish populations and find new sources for its feed, the global coalition said during its weeklong tour of Norway’s salmon-farming operations and meetings with stakeholders.
Pure Salmon Campaign partners in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Chile said that Marine Harvest and other aquaculture operators in Chile mismanaged biosecurity efforts, leading to the spread of infectious salmon anemia, an influenza-like virus that has devastated production there. Marine Harvest’s salmon production in Chile has declined by as much 50 percent this year, costing about 20,000 Chilean salmon farm workers to lose their jobs, the group said, adding that conditions are unsafe for workers.
"Since 2005, seven Marine Harvest workers and contractors have died on the job,” said Javier Ugarte, president of CONATRASAL, the labor union of Chilean salmon aquaculture workers. “In March 2009, two workers died and Marine Harvest has still failed to make the reasons public. Not only does Marine Harvest fail to pay sufficient attention to protecting the environment and the animals in its care, but the company doesn't even adequately protect its own staff."
The environmental group also attacked Marine Harvest’s failure to control sea lice at its farms in Canada, the continuing problem of escapes from open net pens and the heavy use of fishmeal in its feed.
“Marine Harvest has yet to develop a viable, long-term strategy to manage environmental problems associated with salmon farming,” said Don Staniford, European representative of the Pure Salmon Campaign coalition. “Marine Harvest must commit to concrete reforms to address these problems and reduce their impact on the environment. The company claims to be the model for sustainability in the aquaculture industry, but it has a long way to go before that rings true.”
The coalition filed a shareholder resolution with Marine Harvest calling for a special board committee to review environmental practices and how they relate to disease problems.
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