New undercover footage from a salmon hatchery in Maine has sparked fresh allegations of animal cruelty against Cooke Aquaculture, a major seafood company. The video, recorded by the activist group Animal Outlook between September and December last year, shows staff clubbing fish with metal poles, kicking them, and cutting into a living fish. Deformities and fungal infections were also prevalent, according to the group.
Employees at the Bingham facility told the undercover activist that they feed fish contaminated by rats, have allowed penned fish to escape into the wild, and kill thousands of fish due to overproduction. One worker stated: “Unfortunately I don’t think the company is in it for the fish health side, they just want fish production.”
This is the second undercover investigation at the same site; a 2019 video showed deformed salmon suffocating in plastic containers. Jareb Gleckel, director of legal advocacy at Animal Outlook, said the latest footage shows mistreatment “about as bad as it gets” and described the issue as systemic. Jena Questen, former president of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association, wrote in an affidavit that the fish suffer “unnecessary and avoidable suffering”.
Cooke Aquaculture declined to comment. Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has opened an investigation, and Animal Outlook has requested animal cruelty charges. The salmon are sold under the True North brand, certified by Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), which has also launched an inquiry.
The allegations come as the Trump administration pushes to expand US aquaculture, aiming to mass-produce fish industrially. The US currently imports 80% of its seafood, and the industry is worth $4 billion globally, with most seafood now coming from farms rather than wild catch.
