Last week’s blizzard damaged a fish pen in Shelburne Harbour.
Cooke Aquaculture reported to the province on February 15th that some salmon may have escaped.
New aquaculture regulations require companies to notify government of any containment breaches as soon as possible.
Nova Scotia Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell says he is concerned.
“I’ve heard everything from it’s serious to not that serious. But I believe it is a problem. We are glad the company reported it as they are supposed to do. That shows our regulations are working.”
Colwell says a provincially appointed committee is drafting recommendations on what to do when salmon escape a fish farm, and methods to track them.
He says in the meantime the situation will continue to be monitored to ensure all the appropriate actions are taken to secure the site.
Cooke Aquaculture is now harvesting all of the fish at the site and the remainder of the fish from the damaged pen.
Storm Damage to Fish Farm in Shelburne County https://t.co/J63WTnhxSR
— Nova Scotia Gov. (@nsgov) February 24, 2017
