Sjávarútvegsráðherra Nýfundnalands hefur fellt niður leyfi laxeldisrisans Mowi á því svæði þar sem félagið stendur nú í stórfelldu hreinsunarstarfi eftir að svo til allur lax drapst í sjókvíum þess. Félagið hafði gefið upp að 1,8 milljón laxa gæti hafa drepist en vísbendingar eru um að fjöldinn sé enn meiri.
Ráðherrann hefur óskað eftir því að forstjóri félagsins, Norðmaðurinn Alf-Helge Aarskog, komi og standi fyrir máli sínu.
Enn er mikið af rotnandi lax í sjónum en auk þess hefur fyrirtækið orðið uppvíst af því að dæla í sjóinn bleiklituðu menguðu vatni eftir landvinnslu á dauða fiskinum.
“Newfoundland Minister of Fisheries and Land Resource Gerry Byrne on Friday announced that he was suspending 10 farming licenses of Mowi Canada East’s Northern Harvest operations after reports of additional netpens at the company’s sites were impacted by a”mass salmon mortality” that first hit the company’s sites last month.
“The additional mortality numbers make total numbers higher than initially reported by the company,” Byrne said in a statement.
“As a result of the ongoing investigation and evidence of non-compliance, I am suspending all affected Northern Harvest Seafood Farms licenses and issuing a directive that requires the company to continue the cleanup of the sites. I will be amending license conditions to all unaffected Northern Harvest Seafood Farms and other associated MOWI license sites in the coming days.”
Byrne said he has asked the “international president of Mowi” — likely CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog — for an in-person meeting with the Newfoundland government.”