Marine Harvest takeover target, Northern Harvest, is heading to court to face charges that it illegally used an “off-the-shelf” pesticide to control sea lice at one of its salmon farms in New Brunswick, court docket said.
The Environment Department confirmed for the CBC that the company was under investigation but reportedly said little else. SalmonBusiness can confirm the trial was scheduled to start on May 15th at 9:30 a.m., although it may have to wait, as severe flooding has forced the courthouse in St. John to close for an indeterminate period of time.
It’s the second time salmon-farming and illegal pesticide use have surfaced in the Maritime Canada. In 2013, after hundreds of lobsters died, Kelly Cove Salmon, a Cooke Aquaculture business, lodged a guilty plea to charges it violated the Fisheries Act by using the wrong type of pesticide.
Read Cooke battling cross-border bad luck
Kelly cover had to pay out CAD 500,000 in damages.
Marine Harvest, the world’s largest salmon farmer, is awaiting a reply from Canada’s Competition Bureau over its acquisition of Northern Harvest. Northern has been viewed as key to Marine Harvest’s aspirations in Atlantic Canada.
