Mowi Canada West issued a statement saying that 2.6 million fish from their hatcheries on Vancouver Island are at risk of being killed as opposed to the 8.3 millions estimated earlier this week.

In an statement emailed to the Mirror Wednesday, Feb. 10, Dean Dobrinsky, Mowi Canada West鈥檚 human resources, safety and communications manager, said, 鈥淭here was a desire to clearly define the immediate impact as the 2.6 million smolts (those that are active in our sea sites and hatcheries) after it originally was picked up by the trades as culling 8.3 million smolt in our hatcheries.鈥�

The calculations were estimated based on the the company鈥檚 five year operations cycle 鈥� from broodstock through the hatcheries to sea sites and then the harvest, said Dobrinsky.

鈥淚n the immediate term, there are 2.6 million fish currently at sea or in our hatcheries at risk of being killed if we are unable to find a home for them. As we have a five year operational cycle, we have millions of fish in our system that will also have to be killed if we cannot find locations for them to grow to harvest,鈥� said the statement.

The statement for the new estimates were issued after the aquaculture company鈥檚 parent company Mowi ASA estimated a significantly lower smolt cull.

Yesterday 鈥� in response to Dobrinksky鈥檚 estimate of 8.3 million fish that were to be culled, costing them a revenue of $195 million 鈥� Mowi ASA鈥檚 group communications director Ola Helge Hjetland told via a text message that 鈥渢here are 2.6 million smolt. Not 8.3 million.鈥�

In response to $CAD 195 million in revenue loss, Hjetland added, 鈥淲e have not said anything about the amount yet, but have sent out a stock exchange announcement of the effect on volume. We will be back with other numbers in Q4.鈥�