A professor of Biology at Memorial University is not impressed by the latest developments in the massive fish die-off on the south coast of the province.
Dr. Ian Jones says he can’t trust the information being put forth about what happened at the Northern Harvest Sea Farm location because the investigation is not independent.
While early estimates put the Atlantic salmon mortality between 1.8-million to 2-million fish, Northern Harvest addressed media on Friday, saying an additional 600,000 salmon died as result of what it calls an “unprecedented weather event.”
Memorial University’s Marine Institute was commissioned to conduct a review of the incident, however that participation has come under fire by the NDP for not being completely separate from the provincial government.
Jones says he would prefer to see an outside agency—such as the Royal Society of Canada—brought in to find out what killed the 2.6-million fish.
He says you can’t have a company or government that is closely involved with a disastrous occurrence selecting its own reviewers.
Jones was also critical of provincial fisheries minister Gerry Byrne. He says he feels as much in the dark as the fisheries minister, based on Byrne’s contradictory statements about the die-off from last week.
Jones says he doesn’t think the public truly knows what is going on along the south coast, as there aren’t independent observers on the ground who are talking about it.
Northern Harvest Commissions Monitoring Group
Meanwhile, Northern Harvest Sea Farms says it has engaged the Mi’kmaq Alsumk Mowimsikik Koqoey Association (MAMKA) to monitor recovery efforts following the salmon die-off. The monitoring program, it says, will follow guidelines set by federal agencies including DFO, Environment Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service.
MAMKA was formed through a partnership between the Qalipu First Nations Band and Miawpukek First Nations to provide assistance in ocean and coastal management.
Northern Harvest also requested that the findings be released publicly.
View the full statement from Northern Harvest below:
