Suspicion on use of lice products not approved
Management at Marine Farm has decided to suspend harvesting of salmon at all its sites at Hoganess Salmon, on the west coast of Shetland, following the loss of approximately 6,000 fish after a routine sea lice treatment. The reason for doing so is suspicion of use of lice products not approved for salmon.
The following statement from the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Lakeland Group has been released today: Lakeland Group suspends all harvesting at sites that have been treated for sea lice in Shetland The Lakeland Group has announced today, August 27, that it has formally suspended all harvesting of salmon at its Hoganess sites in Shetland, following the loss of approximately 6,000 fish after a routine sea lice treatment. It is still not clear what caused the mortalities in one of the pens. The Company will continue to work closely with the Scottish Environmental and Protection Agency (SEPA), the animal welfare charity Scottish SPCA, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and local Environmental Health Officers to determine the cause, although this may take a number of weeks while tests are undertaken. Moreover, the Company is working closely with the authorities to reassure them that none of the fish from this site have entered the food chain after the incident.
Lakeland has hired a team of external experts to carry out an internal investigation. So far, this investigation has uncovered that during the treatment, which protects salmon from a parasite which affects wild and farmed fish, lice products not approved for salmon may have been used. Needless to say, the use of such products will be in conflict with the Company's systems and public regulations.
The focus of the investigation will be to uncover all facts in the incident and to prevent this from happening again. Clearly the possibility of improper use of compounds has indicated a failing in the Company systems and the priority is to address this effectively and as quickly as possible.
Lakeland considers this as a very serious matter and has not harvested fish from the site in question since the incident. The Company will not harvest or move fish from that site until a satisfactory utcome has been reached. The direct financial effect of the mortalities in connection with the sea lice treatment is assumed not to be significant. The company is taking necessary actions to limit the indirect effects of the incident.
