No leak was initially reported. Now authorities confirm that a “small amount of organic material leaked from the tank” did.
On Jan the 2nd, SalmonBusiness reported that a tank tanker full of dead salmon silage fell into the Duncan Bay, north of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada.
It was reported that silage was seen leaking into the water. When SalmonBusiness first contacted Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard (DFO), it said that the tank trailer was “intact and there was no discharge of organic or non-organic (hydrocarbons) materials”.
Cermaq Canada
The tank trailer remained afloat, was recovered, and towed into Duncan Bay. The material was sent to West Coast Reduction in Nanaimo for further rendering and reduction. These fish were from Cermaq Canada’s Cypress Harbour farm and were not related to the recent escape at a site operated by Mowi.
SalmonBusiness then showed Billy Vaughn owner of Coastal Seatrucking footage taken by local commercial diver James Lawson and asked him what he thought the slight leak was.
“Pressure relief valve let about a 1/4 of a cup out when the diver was down there and it’s the only time it happened in two days cause it was being monitored so I’m not sure if he give the valve a little test or not, regardless there was nothing in there that would harm anything,” said Vaughn.
SalmonBusiness asked authorities for more information on the two DFO officers who were allegedly informed that there was a leak and then took down witness statements.
Tank intact
The authority then wrote: “A small amount of organic material leaked from the tank, although the tank remained intact. The small amount of material leaked is not expected to have any impact on the marine environment.”
The DFO then added:
“As per DFO’s conditions of licence for marine finfish aquaculture, all facilities are required to collect, categorize, record, store and dispose of fish carcasses.
“Facilities must ensure that carcasses are stored at a secure location while awaiting a secure transfer to a land-based facility. Procedures must be in place to prevent any contents from leaking into the surrounding waters while storing and transferring these carcasses.
“DFO is looking into this incident to determine if any licence conditions have been breached”.
