Small scale aquaculture popular in B.C.
Not all salmon farming in British Columbia is surrounded by criticism and controversy. As most salmon farmers are working to educate the population at large about the virtues of conventional, net-pen rearing of salmon, one former salmon farmer moved inland and set up shop in a small town east of Vancouver. The following article appears on the web site of Slow Food Vancouver- an organization that Slow Food is... "good, clean and fair";
Hidden Valley Secrets - Wasabi, Crayfish & Salmon - What Do They All Have In Common?
Hidden among the collection of friendly, hospitable farmfolk in the quaint town of Agassiz lies an undiscovered treasure of feisty crayfish, spicy wasabi plants, peppery watercress and silky fleshed farmed coho salmon. Such a fresh collection of ingredients could serve as the start to any culinary masterpiece, but this particular entourage comes with an incredible story of one committed, passionate cultivator. His name is Bruce Swift of Swift Aqua‐Culture.
Swift Aquaculture is a beautiful, 5 acre piece of farmland, in the district of Kent, with a quaint farmhouse and 2 barns on site. Bruce and his wife, Mary Lou, are both food scientists. Mary Lou specializes in dairy sciences and Bruce has committed most of his post secondary education to studying the Coho salmon. Using his specialized knowledge, Bruce has created an enviro‐friendly, land‐locked, sustainable system that links the salmon to the wasabi, the watercress to the crayfish. The water from the tanks of the Coho is used to fertilize the crops of wasabi and watercresss, and the algae pools formed from the planting of the watercress and wasabi is used as food for the crayfish.
Having the opportunity to observe representation of the food chain, you will be given an opportunity to sample a fresh wasabi leaf. It has a clean, slightly bitter flavour, like that of arugula, but with the punchy finish indicative of wasabi. It makes a spectacular salad green. You will also sample his Coho that is hot smoked. Bruce says “there is a negative stigma to farmed fish, because consumers assume that all farmed fish have antibiotics”; this is simply not the case. The feed he uses for his Coho does not contain any drugs and he controls the size of the fish by adjusting water temperature and amount of light exposure. Bruce has a passion and commitment to sustainable farming practices with a drive for developing creative processes to bring innovative food ingredients to all foodies’ tables.
