A major seafood company is once again under investigation following the release of undercover footage allegedly showing animal abuse and environmentally harmful practices at a salmon breeding farm in Maine.
The covert video, captured by the activist group Animal Outlook, appears to show staff at the Cooke Aquaculture salmon hatchery in Bingham clubbing fish with metal poles and aiming kicks at them as they writhe on the ground, reports The Guardian.
In one instance, a living fish is seen being cut into, while deformities and fungal infections were reportedly prevalent throughout the facility.
According to the activist who worked as a hatchery technician between September and December last year, employees admitted to using feed contaminated by rats and mistakenly allowing penned fish to escape into wild waterways. One worker on the video stated that the company prioritises “fish production” over “fish health”.
This is the second undercover recording taken by Animal Outlook at the same facility; a 2019 video previously showed deformed salmon suffocating in plastic containers. One employee in the latest footage recounted being filmed throwing fish like basketballs while shouting “Kobe” during the previous exposé.
Jareb Gleckel, director of legal advocacy at Animal Outlook, described the mistreatment as “about as bad as it gets,” asserting that the facility lacks oversight. Jena Questen, former president of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association, supported the group’s complaint to regulators, stating the footage showed “inhumane” treatment and “unnecessary and avoidable suffering”.
A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, a Canadian firm headquartered in New Brunswick, declined to comment. However, Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has opened an investigation.
Additionally, the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) programme, which certifies the facility’s True North brand, has launched its own integrity team investigation.
The allegations emerge as the Trump administration seeks to “supersize” the US aquaculture industry, which is currently valued at $4 billion. Last month, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the first national office of seafood to sweep aside regulations and facilitate a boom in fish farming across thousands of acres off the coasts of Alaska, California, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Brooke Rollins, the secretary of Agriculture, stated the office would provide a “brighter future for the seafood industry”. However, Ben Williamson, executive director of Animal Outlook, warned that this policy would lead to the “chickenification” of fish, mirroring the industrial mass-production boom of the 1950s.
While a USDA spokesperson argued that aquaculture is an “environmentally efficient” way to produce animal protein, critics maintain that dense schools of farmed fish can spread diseases and parasites to wild populations. Williamson further noted that chemicals used in feed and the development of “dead zones” under open net pens pose significant ecological risks.
