Green Denial: Malachite Traces in Clayoquot Fish

The site at Clayoquot Sound denies using the carcinogenic substance and managers are said to be shocked by the discovery.

According to the Canadian Press, Spencer Evans, general manager of the Creative Salmon Company said he was at a loss as to how the contamination had occurred. He said the traces were found in samples collected by the US Food and Drug Administration in early December. Samples were taken from 12 separate salmon fillets, which came from 12 cases. The samples were pooled and the administration recorded levels of 2.868 parts per billion. The salmon had been harvested from the Eagle Bay site on 28 November 2007.

Evans said the company has since tested some of the 20,000 remaining Eagle Bay fish in the presence of a provincial fisheries officer. Results from those tests could come back by the end of this week.
Harvesting from the Eagle Bay site won't resume until these results are available;the company will continue harvesting from its McCall farm.

No explanation

"We have no explanation as to what has happened, We haven't done anything wrong. We don't use malachite green, period," he stressed.

The fish, were reared from smolts hatched in 2005 and put to sea in May 2006. They had been repeatedly tested for malachite green before they left the fresh-water hatchery in 2006 and again before they were harvested in June 2007. In total, 55 fish were sampled and tested negative.

Evans said the company tested the fish feed has also been analysed for any possible traces of Malachite Green and the results proved negative.

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