New project to prevent the escape of farmed fish
While environmental groups are still trying to make a big issue of escaped farmed salmon into B.C. waters, the facts tell a different story. First of all- everyone can agree that it is not in anybody's interest to have fish escape from a farm site. But that's where the agreement ends. Fish farmers have been reasonably successful in keeping their fish in their pens over the past number of years. The millions of Atlantic salmon deliberately introduced to B.C. waterways over the years are nowhere to be found, and the same goes for the hundreds of thousands of fish that have escaped from Pacific Ocean regional farms since the species became the farmed fish of choice in the mid- 1980's.
Add to this the fact that Atlantic salmon can not produce viable offspring by mating with one of the 5 Pacific salmon species, and the concern should be left to a minimum. A long-professed insinuation by ENGO's that a chronic "leakage" from net pens of farmed salmon takes place also doesn't hold water, with today's practice of vaccinating all fish and culling "underperformers".
With fish farmers everywhere being interested in reducing any chance of farmed fish escaping from their pens, it is with interest that Norway's SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture has been awarded a major European Union 7th Research Framework project to tackle the problem of fish escaping from aquaculture throughout Europe, according to a company release;The escape of fish from sea-cage aquaculture is perceived as a threat to natural biodiversity in Europe's marine waters. Escapes of fish from sea-cages have been reported for almost all major species presently cultured across Europe, including Atlantic salmon, Atlantic cod, rainbow trout, Arctic charr, halibut, sea bream, sea bass and meagre.
The present level of escapes is regarded by many as a problem for the future sustainability of aquaculture as escapees can have detrimental genetic and ecological effects on populations of wild fish. Moreover, escape events are often reported in the popular press when they occur and the aquaculture industry is invariably painted in a negative light on such occasions.
Technical and operational failures of fish farming technology cause escapes leading to escapes of adult fish. Cages sometimes break in storms, wear and tear of the netting causes holes, and operational accidents lead to spills of fish. Escapes of fertilised eggs may also occur if fish such as cod and sea bream spawn within sea-cages.
New technology
The new project, Prevent Escape (www.sintef.no/preventescape), aims at improving both fish farming technology and how the technology is used in the sea to better prevent escape incidents. The project is specifically designed to conduct and integrate biological and technological research on a pan-European scale to improve recommendations and guidelines for aquaculture technologies and operational strategies that reduce escape events. The 3-year project (April 2009 – April 2012) involves 11 partners from 6 countries (Norway, Greece, Spain, Malta, Scotland and Ireland) and is led by SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture.
