Aquaculture critic presses for answers after another salmon die-off

More than 90,000 salmon being farmed in an open-net aquaculture pen on Newfoundland's south coast died over the weekend, the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture announced in a release Saturday.

The event occurred at a site known as "the gorge," which is operated by Mowi's Marine Harvest Atlantic Canada, and was caused by "sudden low dissolved oxygen levels."

The dead fish have been removed from the site and mitigation measures, including deeper nets and aeration equipment, would be implemented, the release said. 

Executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Aquaculture Industry Association Mark Lane called the event "very unfortunate," but said die-offs are unavoidable in any kind of farming, whether marine or terrestrial.

"We have to remember that Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the most challenging environments for farming, whether that's farming fish or farming vegetables," he said.

But one critic says the high number of mortality events in the province's aquaculture industry has less to do with weather, and more to do with what he calls "a reckless approach to regulation."

"The province should be a regulator," said Leo White, spokesperson for the Newfoundland and Labrador Coalition for Aquaculture Reform. "They're not really acting as a regulator in the true sense of the word."