Move to Closed Containment questioned
Cyr Couturier has been around aquaculture development as long as most Canadians, and he is currently a Lecturer and Researcher as well as the Chair of Aquaculture Programs at the Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His University Profile states among else- that:” I am interested in all aspects related to the utilization of Canadian coastal areas for aquaculture purposes”. Mr. Couturier is currently also doing duty as the Executive Director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association while Miranda Pryor is on maternity leave. Responding to a recent posting on the front page of the Coaster newspaper “that would see a strong and vibrant industry move from our communities to locations near salmon markets”, Mr. Couturier said he was surprised by the allocation of such space to an idea with little or no merit.
Coaster reporter Clayton Hunt covered the story;
Couturier said that’s what Bill Taylor, the president of the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is advocating for (moving salmon farms from coastal communities- Ed. note) when he says the ASF supports land-based closed containment salmon farms. (ASF Releases Report on Salmon Aquaculture, 23 April 2013).
He said that what land-based closed containment salmon farms will do is threaten a thousand well-paying, full time jobs in the Coast of Bays region as well as other rural Newfoundland communities. In addition, Newfoundlanders would no longer be the ones responsible for supplying a healthy nutritious food to our citizens and a growing world population. Couturier said, “We have to wonder, why now? Why is Mr. Taylor taking this position when our industry has been part of our coastal communities for more than 30 years? “We know we can produce our nutritious, healthy and quality product in an environmentally responsible manner while replicating the natural life cycle of the salmon. The consumers tell us this, and we have science-based independent certifications to prove it.”
He said that Newfoundland salmon farmers are experts at closed containment systems – in fact, we have Canada’s newest state of the art facilities right here. “ Mr. Taylor’s twelve-month experience in West Virginia has yet to produce salmon on a commercial scale. The fact is, there are no operations in Denmark or Canada producing salmon at a commercial scale, in spite of what Mr. Taylor stated in the article, so to argue that it can be done, simply doesn’t make sense now. “We are not opposed to experiments to try and improve on-land fish production, but to argue this is commercial and being done commercially is simply not true. “ Mr. Taylor has a long list of benefits of growing salmon in land-based tanks, and we can’t respond to all of them here, but the idea that there will be no disease concerns when you raise fish in tanks is unfounded. One only has to look at commercial aquaria, other land-based finfish producers, and even home aquaria, and realize there is a lucrative industry dedicated to the health of fish in tanks and aquariums around the world, Couturier said.
He said that Mr. Taylor’s assertions that that there are impacts of salmon farming everywhere are also not supported by the weight of evidence across Atlantic Canada, including NL, evidence from our scientists in gov’t, academia and elsewhere. If this was the case, he said, then ASF’s release of millions of farmed Atlantic salmon from their enhancement hatcheries over the years should be considered a real catastrophe. Instead, we believe they gave up as the returns from farmed hatchery fish were never as expected; in other words they were poor and showed little impact.
Couturier said, “Most people want their food produced in the most natural way possible – we can do that in Newfoundland and Labrador, and we can do it while having little impact on our natural environment. “We employ hard working, dedicated men and women who want to stay in our rural communities, raise their families there, and they are proud of what they do and how they contribute to their communities’ wellbeing. Why is Mr. Taylor advocating against this? “ If one wishes to point fingers at Atlantic salmon’s decline in Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada, then one needs to wonder why the Atlantic Salmon Federation (and their affiliates) continue to promote and support recreational angling of mainly reproductive fish as their first order of business? To our knowledge, this is the single largest source of Atlantic salmon mortality today, and is completely, and legally permissible. How can they argue otherwise? “
Couturier said that if we add other very well known sources of Atlantic salmon mortality today such as illegal poaching in the thousands of salmon, by-catch in commercial fisheries, effects of climate change, pollution, river obstructions such as dams, and predators such as seals and sharks to the equation, then it is no wonder Atlantic salmon have a hard time recovering in most areas of our country, including numerous areas without any salmon farming at all. “Don’t blame salmon farming for the ills of the wild salmon, Mr. Taylor. It would be interesting to actually get an accurate report card on ASF’s efforts in conservation of salmon over the past decades with respect to the known impacts that were just mentioned”. Couturier said, “We feel that this is one more example of ASF trying to raise public funds for a cause – but it isn’t for the conservation of wild salmon. ASF is using the money on a misinformed PR campaign to turn our hardworking salmon farmers into the fall guys for the complex decline of wild Atlantic salmon populations that started long before there was a salmon farm. We don’t know how many wild fish you’re saving with those billboards and newspaper ads of late, but we do know those things aren’t cheap.”
