The government of Newfoundland and Labrador says a stop-work order has been issued at Fortune Bay, halting the diving work operations there.
SalmonBusiness reported last week that Mowi, who owns Northern Harvest, were cleaning-up the site after a mass salmon die-off in several open-net fishing pens.
But the diving work appears now to have been halted after a stop-work order was issued by the Newfoundland and Labrador Government, CBC reports.
#BREAKING In response to a query from @CBCNews @ServiceNL_ says clean-up operations have been halted at Mowi farmed salmon site in Fortune Bay where fish have died en masse. https://t.co/9uaxCuEFKg… @CBCAlerts @CBCNL @CBCNews https://t.co/HTaVL6UbEc
— ????? ?’?????-????? (@oneillyatescbc) October 7, 2019
SalmonBusiness has contacted NL Municipal Affairs, and the Environment and Department of Fisheries and Land Resources for more information, and to ask what reason a stop-work order was issued.
SalmonBusiness has also contacted Mowi to see if the entire operation has been called-off.
The mass mortalities were originally reported in late September, but it’s unknown how many fish died.
Newfoundland Canada’s chief aquaculture veterinarian Daryl Whelan said last week warm water led to low oxygen levels causing the mass mortalities.
Video footage from the scene appeared to show pink liquid flowing from two vessels at the clean-up site.
An NL Government spokesperson emailed Salmon Business to say: “We can confirm that all diving operations have been halted until more information becomes available.”
