Salmon production to remain steady in North America

Odd Grydeland

With the transition of the responsibility for aquaculture regulations changing from the Provincial government in B.C. to the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, salmon farmers in the Province surely must have a secret hope for an opportunity to grow their business sometimes in the future. The current legislators in B.C. have essentially turned away from their previous support for the industry in response to the election loss of three former coastal members of the legislature from the ruling Liberal Party. Fingers were pointed at the industry for failing to garner more public support for the business, and for not doing enough to “get the vote out”.

The overwhelming majority of salmon being farmed in B.C. is produced by the three Norway-based companies Marine Harvest, Mainstream (Cermaq) and Grieg Seafood. In its quarterly report ending September 30, 2010, Marine Harvest suggests that an average forecast of the production of farmed salmon in North America for the year 2010 is some 121,000 tonnes- up about 3% from the 117,000 tonnes produced in 2009. For this year (2011), Marine Harvest has an average prediction of 124,000 tonnes being produced- a modest increase of about 2% over last year.

Looking at their individual production estimates for 2010 and 2011, the three Norwegian companies operating in British Columbia report the following figures:

Marine Harvest Canada:   Production (HOG), 2010:  34,000 tonnes    2011:     35,000 tonnes

Mainstream Canada:                “                           20,500       “                    20,500     “

Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.:             “                           13,500       “                    14,000     “

Other figures for the first nine months of the year (January-September, 2010) show that Mainstream had the highest profit (EBIT) per kilo produced;

*EBIT is Operating Earnings Before Interest and Tax