Aquaculture Canada 2015 gets under way
Odd Grydeland, FishfarmingXpert, June 1, 2015
The annual conference and showcase of the Aquaculture Association of Canada (AAC) begins with a President’s Reception in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
If the quality of the food served during the Sunday evening reception is an indication of what’s to come during the next three days of presentations, the delegates to this year’s conference are definitely in for a treat. The freshly shucked oysters were excellent, and so were the smoked salmon and sablefish (black cod), the mussels, the arctic char and the sturgeon. Some delegates complained about having had dinner before they came.
Tomorrow’s program starts with an opening session to be introduced by the President of the AAC, Kathy Brewer-Dalton. Welcoming the delegates to its Traditional Territory will be Chief John Wesley of the local Snuneymuxw First Nation, after which the BC Minister of Agriculture, Norm Letnick, will welcome everybody to BC. Dr Ralph Nilson is the President of the Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, and his address to the delegates will be followed by a statement by Ruth Salmon, the Executive Director of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance.
Susan Farlinger will also address the conference tomorrow morning. She is the Regional Director General of the Pacific Region of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The Mayor of Nanaimo, Bill McKay, will speak and the last on the list of dignitaries is Jeremy Dunn, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
Following the opening remarks, a keynote presentation to be delivered by the boss of Marine Harvest ASA, Alf-Helge Aarskog.
