Undercover video exposes salmon being clubbed to death at certified Maine fish farm
An undercover investigation at a Maine salmon farm has revealed workers clubbing fish to death and cutting them open while still alive, at a facility certified for meeting animal welfare standards.
Credit: Animal Outlook
An undercover investigation has revealed employees at a Maine salmon farm clubbing fish to death, suffocating them in garbage bags, and ignoring environmental protocols.
The footage, shot late last year by non-profit animal advocacy organization Animal Outlook, shows workers at a farm operated by Cooke Aquaculture repeatedly clubbing salmon out of water and cutting fish open while their hearts were still beating.
Animal Outlook reported that workers "routinely ignored" stunning equipment designed for more humane slaughter, "leaving animals writhing in agony for extended periods."
The investigation follows a similar undercover video Animal Outlook made at the same facility in 2019. No substantial improvement was found. An investigator worked undercover at the fish farm to shoot the video.
Cooke Aquaculture has been selling True North Seafood in New England since 1994. The company’s website says “Suppliers will ensure animal welfare and will not tolerate the cruel treatment of animals in any operations dealing with the husbandry of livestock.”
Cooke, founded in 1985, calls itself “the largest private family-owned seafood company in the world employing 13,000 people worldwide with fully-integrated facilities, product lines and distribution networks.”
Cooke is certified by the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA), an industry group, which sets standards for salmon farming, including “health and welfare” of fish.
GSA standards say “Before slaughter, they shall be stunned instantly by humane means. Carbon dioxide asphyxiation, ice slurry slaughter, bleeding without effective pre-stunning and asphyxiation….”
“Despite having stunning equipment designed for more humane slaughter, workers routinely ignored it,” Animal Outlook reported.
Both the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations set standards for fish farms but don’t seem to set guidelines for humane treatment.
Animal Outlook Executive Director Ben Williamson says “fish suffer just like any other animals do.” Fish aren’t specifically covered under animal welfare laws, though. “Fish are the lowest on the totem pole when it comes to animal protection. There are no state laws that specifically apply to fish,” Williamson said. “There are no federal regulations for fish like there are for livestock. We think it’s time that basic welfare standards were applied to fish. We hope this is a test case.”
Williamson noted that GSA represents the seafood industry. “It is kind of like having the fox reign over the henhouse. That doesn’t make sense to us.”
Credit: Animal Outlook
Hannaford Supermarkets, an operator of 188 food stores in New England and New York, sells True North salmon. Animal Outlook is asking people to sign a letter asking the chain to stop, saying “Your customers trust Hannaford to source responsibly. They rely on you to ensure products meet basic standards of animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and food safety.”
Hannaford had not responded to the petition and, at the time of publication, had not answered a query from Species Unite.
But in 2019, Martha Stewart created a partnership with True North products. It quietly stopped the deal after the first exposé. Martha Stewart’s publicity team had not responded to an inquiry from Species Unite as to why.
Animal Outlook filed a complaint about Cooke with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry’s Animal Welfare Program. Department spokesperson Jim Britt would only say that “the investigation is ongoing.”
Joel Richardson, Cooke Inc. vice president of public relations, had not responded to voice and email queries from Species Unite.
Credit: Animal Outlook
Beyond animal cruelty, workers admitted to ignoring containment protocols. "They have screens that are supposed to be down, but there's so much s**t in there that we pretty much just keep them up all the time," one worker explained.
Another employee described how fish "get out through the drum house" and "eventually make their way into the culverts there and right out" into the Kennebec River. The escape of farmed salmon into wild populations poses serious ecological risks, including disease transmission, genetic contamination, and competition for food and habitat, threats that are particularly concerning given Maine's efforts to restore wild Atlantic salmon populations.
Animal Outlook is urging people to contact Hannaford to urge them to drop True North salmon.
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An undercover investigation at a Maine salmon farm has revealed workers clubbing fish to death and cutting them open while still alive, at a facility certified for meeting animal welfare standards.