Salmon escape from closed containment
The Middle Bay Sustainable Aquaculture Institute has been given millions of dollars in public and US foundation funding for a project to test closed containment salmon farming at a facility just north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The initiative has also received public support from the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), which has among its members the David Suzuki Foundation, Living Oceans Society and Raincoast Research.
Last week a storm went through the area, causing a waste collection device to break away from the bottom of a large bag used to contain thousands of Chinook salmon smolts. Sea water is pumped into the bag, which is meant to provide a barrier between the farmed fish and the environment. Divers were deployed to close the opening created by the mishap, and a report from the institute states that these divers obseved two fish swimming out of the enclosure. Chinook salmon is known to "sound", or move down into the water column, when it is not feeding.
The institute plans to have a prototype of a new closed containment system in the water by next spring, and the Chinook salmon will then be transferred to the new unit.
