Westside story
One of Cermaq Canada's longest serving farmers reflects on how the salmon industry has evolved in BC over the last two decades.
Warren Atleo, lead hand at Cermaq Canada’s Westside salmon farm, has worked on the water most of his life, and he wouldn't have it any other way. “I love it out here. I call it my office, outside, wherever I am,” he says.
Atleo's farm is located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino. He’s worked as a salmon farmer for 18 years and has seen the industry grow into an efficient form of seafood production.
“There have definitely been a lot of improvements,” he said. “I used to get a lot of flak and opposition in the past, but not so much now. I’ve seen a lot of changes through the years, and we’re always trying to find ways to make things better.”
One big change he’s noticed in the last two decades is the way farms feed their fish. In the past, Atleo and other farmers would haul 20 kg bags of feed by hand to the pens for feeding and dump them in by hand. They would only stop when they could see the fish stop eating on the surface, using up to 21 tonnes of feed per day. Apart from being physically demanding, in hindsight, the old methods were also wasteful and not good for the ocean environment.
Today, feed is pumped to each system by compressed air through pipes. Farmers use computers, tablets and sophisticated underwater cameras to monitor feeding and shut the system down as soon as the fish slow down their eating.
These modern feeding practices save feed – which is the single biggest cost in salmon farming – and reduce negative impacts of over-feeding. Another added bonus is that these changes have dramatically increased the feed conversion ratios.
“If we can all work together as a team, and feed the way we’re supposed to be, we minimize the harm to the ocean floor below the sea sites,” Atleo says, explaining that these changes allow farmers to grow salmon using less feed than ever before.
During his time in the salmon farming business, Atleo has run tugboats, supervised harvests, set up anchoring for farm systems, set up sites for farming and done mechanical work. Today, as lead hand, he enjoys passing on his knowledge to new farmers.
“I try and get them to think, and get them into a frame of mind where they can find ways to do things better,” he says.
