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Leaders are trying to bolster an industry that supports 400 direct jobs in hard-hit rural outports, with an annual production value of more than $200 million.
Salmon in hot water
But a company's attempts to clean up thousands of dead fish in the Coast of Bays-Fortune Bay area has reignited debate over the industry, which has been scrutinized for repeated infectious outbreaks, escapes, an outpouring of government money, and what some say is a threat to wild fish.
Salmon in open-net pens operated by Northern Harvest Sea Farms began dying in large numbers earlier this month, with the company blaming unusually high water temperatures. |
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Spokesman Jason Card said salmon thrive in water temperatures between 5 and 15 C, but for a stretch of nearly two weeks in late August, he said, temperatures hovered between 18 and 21 C.
"Temperature spikes are not abnormal, but for that length of time they are," Card said Wednesday morning.
No viruses. No threat to human health. Sea lice aren't to blame, said Card, with the dead fish to be rendered into pet food instead of being served in restaurants and at dinner tables — no different than a farmer whose crops are damaged by frost or drought, he said. |
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