Weather not market condition caused delayed salmon harvest
Speculations that the delayed harvest was linked to poor market conditions for farmed salmon were denied. Cooke Aquaculture's director of communications, Nell Halse, told Coaster online that "the recent downtime at the company's Harbour Breton plant is due to the fact that the salmon in the grow-out sites are not as big as the company would prefer before harvesting". "This decision has nothing to do with market conditions", Ms Halse said.
Cooke has a target of about 4.5 kilos as an average weight per fish before they harvest. The company feels that if they harvest before this weight, overall tonnage, the amount of product and the amount of work at the processing plant is limited. Harvesting smaller fish is not economically viable for the company.
According to the Coaster, Cooke blames the cold temperatures during the winter for the lower than preferred harvest weight. During the cold months the fish hardly eats, and this period lasted longer than anticipated. Therefore, the company found it necessary to leave the fish in the water a little longer than planned in order to grow to the preferred 4.5 kilos average.
Ms. Halse told the Coaster that Cooke has demand in the market for their fish. Because of the delayed harvest, this caused some "grief" because their customers were waiting for product.
It was also denied that the delayed harvest was an indication that Cooke will reduce its long-term commitment to Newfoundland and its operations there.
