Salmon farms more efficient
North Island Gazette,December 02, 2010
It is unfortunate that Ms. Mary Russell chooses to attack our industry by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt through the media.
Perhaps if she actually read the DFO documents and the studies she mentions in her letters she would get a better idea of the broader picture, and not just what some extremists would like her to think.
For the record, we have not refused to give the government any information. This spring, in anticipation of the pending transfer of authority over aquaculture from the province to the federal government, our company veterinarians recommended we switch to a third-party auditor to maintain the integrity and transparency of our fish health program. We did. The sampling and testing programs continue, the data is made available to the provincial government, and the third-party auditor, the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences, also makes its data publicly available.
Also for the record, in response to Mr. Will Soltau’s letter, as he is no doubt aware the provincial government publishes fish health data by zones, grouping farms into specific areas which are biologically similar. For example, the Broughton Archipelago is one zone, and sea lice numbers, viral infections and bacterial infections for that zone are reported by veterinarians. This method has proven to be accurate as industry-reported numbers line up consistently with numbers from government sampling. Page 31 of the 2009 Annual Fish Health report available at
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/ahc/fish_health/Fish_Health_Report_2009.pdf says the numbers are in “strong agreement.”
In fact, Mr. Soltau himself said in October that the government report “seems to demonstrate the sector is in compliance and their reporting accurate.”
And as for closed containment salmon farming, a recent report by DFO shows that to replace one current net pen farm on land would cost $23 million to build, take up eight hectares of land and would take three years to show only a four per cent return on investment. As well, the report shows, land-based farms are less flexible in managing costs, are more susceptible to fluctuating prices and exchange rates and would have to densely pack the fish in tanks by a factor of more than three times the density in ocean pens. This high density would likely be unhealthy for the fish.
As well, the carbon footprint from land-based farms would be huge. Estimates from Dr. Andrew Wright’s report “Technologies for Viable Salmon Aquaculture” suggest B.C.’s current farmed salmon production on land would require the energy equivalent of “two or three” pulp mills. Perhaps people citing this report are unaware of exactly how much electricity that is. An average pulp mill uses 2,450 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce one air-dried ton of pulp. The Mackenzie mill in the B.C. Interior can produce 235,000 air-dried tons of pulp per year. That’s nearly 576 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. According to BC Hydro, the average Lower Mainland home uses 8,900 kilowatt-hours per year. The energy equivalent of “two or three” pulp mills would be the equivalent of 194,000 homes.
Where is that electricity going to come from? The current energy cost for salmon farming is very low. Should we build more run-of-river projects, dam more rivers, build coal-fired power plants and natural gas plants just so we can move salmon farms on land? Is that sustainable?
We maintain that farming salmon in ocean pens is the best way to grow fish, not only because it is the most sustainable and the most cost-effective but also because it keeps jobs in coastal communities. If, hypothetically, all salmon farms were forced on land, they could be built anywhere, and it would make the most financial sense to build them as close to the market as possible to cut transportation costs. The biggest markets for our fish are in the United States. It’s doubtful these land-based farms would be built in B.C. It’s more likely they would be built in the United States, and hooked up to a power grid dominated by coal-fired power plants.
We believe ocean net pens are the most sustainable way to grow salmon. We stand by our record, which shows that we grow salmon in a responsible, sustainable way which creates jobs for coastal communities, brings millions of dollars to those communities and also respects and protects the environment and wild salmon.
Grant Warkentin
Communications Officer, Mainstream Canada
