New land-based salmon farm being built
Opinion
The Namgis First Nation has been operating a salmon enhancement facility in its Traditional Territory near the Nimpkish River on northern Vancouver Island for years in order to increase the returns of sockeye salmon to the Nimpkish Lake. The leadership of the Namgis has for a long time voiced its opposition to the idea of producing salmon in floating net pens, and this opposition has also been expressed in no uncertain terms by the principals of the Save Our Salmon Marine Conservation Foundation (SOS). These two entities have now partnered in spearheading a new type of fish farm which is currently being built in the Nimpkish Valley not far from the existing “wild salmon” hatchery.
If successful, this initial pilot project will be expanded to four more modules- each producing hundreds of tonnes of Atlantic salmon at high densities (~90 Kg/m³), and counting on low mortality rates, improved feed conversion rates and no medical treatments of the fish for disease outbreaks in order to be profitable. As with many other projects of this nature, much of the funding is coming from government grants and contributions from wealthy American charitable foundations. A similar project using floating tanks at a facility near Campbell River recently failed due to technical faults, and the company (AgriMarine Industries) is allegedly facing severe problems with off-flavour in its salmon products coming out of tank farms in China.
It would be great if these types of “closed containment” projects would go ahead on the basis of sound science and investigation of new ways of producing healthy seafood for a growing population in an environmentally sustainable way, but as soon as they are seeking justification by criticizing other production methods like conventional ocean net pen fish farming, they automatically become the subject of speculation into ulterior motives. There seems to be no doubt about the fact that the motivation behind the SOS support for this particular project is rooted in the conviction that conventional salmon farming is bad. But responsible science doesn’t support this assumption. I sincerely hope that the Namgis/SOS project will succeed, and therefore provide another optional method of producing farmed Atlantic (or Pacific) salmon.
Radio Canada International recently provided the following description of the Namgis/SOS project;
A unique partnership between a small Canadian aboriginal community and a pair of environmental groups is set to change the way salmon is farmed in Canada. The Namgis Closed Containment project is unfolding near Port McNeil on northern-eastern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It aims to raise Atlantic salmon in hi-tech land-based pens rather than in nets that sit in the open ocean. Jackie Hildering is the communication director for the Save Our Salmon Marine Conservation Foundation, a joint partner in the initiative: “The absolute core intent of this is to change industry, to show that closed containment salmon farming can create a more desirable product that is highly economic without impacts to the environment.” It’s all part of a multi-year, $7 million (~€5.67 million), five module plan to address environmental problems associated with open-water fish farming; disease, parasites, the use-of antibiotics and “escapees.” Not new, just improved Hildering says fish farmers have been growing Pacific salmon like Coho in tanks on land for over twenty years. But she says that in order for the sea-to-land transition to succeed they will need to do it with a more commercially-viable fish. “The reason there’s Atlantic salmon (and not other species) in open net pens is that they grow faster and they are more disease resistant, so it has to be proven that the species that is currently being farmed in the open nets at sea can be farmed on land.” She says that two smaller facilities have already done it, but this is the first one in Canada -- one of seven worldwide -- trying to show that this can be done on a more profitable commercial scale.
A unique partnership The Namgis Closed Containment project is the brainchild of Save Our Salmon founder Eric Hobson.
He came up with the idea in 2008 to protect west coast salmon stocks and to help put the resource in the hands of its ancestral fathers. SOS drew up a plan then partnered with the national public environmental group Tides Canada who provide funding and technical help through the US-based Freshwater Institute. They then sought out and found an enterprising First Nation to join them. The Namgis community led by Chief Bill Cranmer were happy to oblige and are now 100% owners of the Namgis Closed Containment project. A green future, although not everyone is happy Should the Namgis Closed Containment project be successful, Hildering says they will be passing along what they have learned to other First Nations. Hildering says they want to compete on product not the technology behind it, although not everyone wants to change the way salmon are being farmed. Open net pen salmon farmers say that the project takes up too much land, will consume large amounts of energy and they allege that the small tanks call into question animal welfare. Hildering says none of these accusations are true, and suggests that these farmers are simply struggling to adapt their businesses to aquaculture's green future. The first Atlantic salmon smolts will be introduced into module one in January 2013, Hildering is cautious but has high hopes: ” I will do my happy dance in the middle of the highway in Port McNeil when on one side of the highway there are these five 5 modules producing salmon, (providing) food security, environmental sustainability and (proof of) human ingenuity applied well … and on the other side all greenhouses because the affluent from these farms can be used to grow vegetables.”
