Salmon farm damaged, no fish escape: Company

Westcoaster.ca staff
November 24, 2009
Westcoaster.ca No Atlantic salmon escaped a Clayoquot Sound fish farm last week even though a storm damaged sections of one facility.

Laurie Jensen, community relations manager for Mainstream Canada, said three of four north-head mooring lines failed at the company’s Fortune Channel operation, pressing the system into a feed barge Nov. 17.

She said the company was harvesting fish when a supervisor noticed some buckling on a walkway. Jensen said the company stopped harvesting and tugboats held the system in place until a third tugboat arrived in the morning and helped secure the facility with additional lines.

Jensen said divers inspected the facility and found no holes in the nets.

Jensen blamed a storm surge, higher-than-normal tides and more than 200 millimetres of rain.

The company says it is reviewing all engineering recommendations.

Source: Westcaoster.ca