An equipment failure killed 100,000 Atlantic salmon worth $5 million at the Sustainable Blue land-based salmon farm in Nova Scotia, Canada, earlier this month, local news reported.
A filter that removes carbon dioxide from holding tanks experienced a "structural collapse". The land-based salmon farm is the only one in North America with zero waste discharge thanks to its proprietary water filtration system which constantly recirculates water on-site.
The CO2 stripper is unique to Sustainable Blue. The company said that the "structural collapse" was a construction failure and not an issue of technology performance. The company thinks it was an isolated incident.
Fish inside five other buildings were unaffected but the malfunction killed off 20% of production. The salmon were market-ready, weighing between four and eight kilograms each. The fish deaths have left the company unable to supply customers until June 2024.
