New Brunswick salmon growers paying forward
Canada: What Norwegians shared with New Brunswick farmers is now being "paid forward" by them extending help to Chile. In the late 1990s east coast Canadian salmon farmers sought advice from their Norwegian counterparts end experts. These days, Chileans are visiting Atlantic Canada for the same purpose - learn how to deal with fish diseases which are threatening the industry.
Salmon Chile, Chile's salmon farming industry association, sent one of their technology consultants, Joel Leal, to New Brunswick to study and learn how to eliminate disease and manage fish health properly.
The Chilean salmon farming industry is experiencing devastating fish health issues, especially problems with Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). The problems are so large that it is threatening the industry's exports. Many communities depending on the industry are facing increased unemployment as farms are forced to reduce or close operations. Processing plants are also closing.
Mr. Leal is visiting with veterinarians from New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture, staff at a research and productivity center in Fredericton and visiting farms in the province.
It is the current ISA disease which is wreaking havoc with the Chilean salmon farming industry. New Brunswick salmon growers experienced the same challenges when ISA attacked their farms. It took a good ten years (1996-2006) for the growers in New Brunswick to contain the problem.
When the first ISA outbreak was confirmed in New Brunswick, the provincial government and industry sought help from Norway. Norwegian veterinarians, regulators and farmers who had experienced ISA visited New Brunswick to share their experience and knowledge, and how ISA was being dealt with in Norway.
"Pay it forward" is a concept, and a social movement, based on a novel with same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was also made into a movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.
