The Canadian salmon farmer didnt’t have a license to use chemical against a lice outbreak. Now the company has been fined $12,000.
Lawyer Duane McAfee, who represented Northern Harvest in provincial court in Saint John yesterday, said the company applied to use the pesticide on July 18, 2017 and had not yet received permission when it went ahead with the application July 26, writes CBC.
“Our client felt that it was imperative for the fish health that they treat it with Salmosan,” McAfee said. “They were essentially concerned about mass mortalities.”
The company was eventually charged with violation of Section 15 of the New Brunswick Pesticides Control Act: “No person shall use a pesticide in a manner contrary to … the manufacturer’s written recommendation as to its use, contained in or on the pesticide container in which the pesticide was contained.”
Local fishermen groups expressed dismay at the fine of $12,000.
“I think any time there’s a fine that’s a deterrent to illegal activity, it should be an actual deterrent to the activity,” said Bonnie Morse, project manager with the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association.
In December 2017 it was known that Marine Harvest had entered into an agreement to purchase Northern Harvest.
