Three decades in, here are five quick facts on B.C.'s salmon farming industry
Report points to environmental, economic aspects of industry
By Larissa Cahute, The Province October 27, 2015
The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) is releasing its first-ever sustainability progress report on its advances in environmental, social and economic responsibility at a global aquaculture conference in Vancouver on Tuesday.
BCSFA will be one of more than 300 organizations from the world’s seafood industry at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s annual Global Outlook on Aquaculture Leadership conference that runs Oct. 26 to 29 at the Four Seasons Vancouver.
The conference, being held Canada for the first time, serves as a place for the industry, from retail to food services, government, academia and NGOs to discuss animal health and welfare and the challenges facing aquaculture across the globe.
One of the major species to be discussed at the event will be salmon, so the BCSFA’s progress report is timely. Here are some quick facts about the B.C. salmon farming industry from the BCSFA report:
The history: 30 YEARS
Salmon farming in B.C. dates back to the 1980s and has seen significant developments over the past 30 years.
According to BCSFA executive director Jeremy Dunn, “there’s been a number of criticisms over the years whether salmon farming is harming the environment.”
But the industry has been working to address those concerns and ensure the sustainability of the ocean environment and the animals it coexists with — for example by reducing the amount of marine products that go into salmon feed, said Dunn. Ten years ago the feed would be 50 per cent marine products, whereas today it’s below 18 per cent.
According to Dunn, the most noteworthy gains have been made over the past five years with a number of technological innovations such as having Wi-Fi on farms, digitizing and computerizing feeding programs, and switching to polyethylene nets, which better prevents farmed salmon from escaping into the wild.
BCSFA has also appointed an independent Science Advisory Council, to which it has provided $1.5 million in funding for the next five years, to research those concerns on wild and farmed salmon interactions.
Amount of antibiotics used per one tonne of farm-raised salmon: 50 GRAMS
BCSFA has also seen notable improvements when it comes to antibiotics.
According to Dunn, B.C. salmon farmers are working toward eliminating the overall use of medications and have already seen a “seven-fold” decrease in the past decade. Data shows that only 50 grams of antibiotics was administered per tonne of farm-raised B.C. salmon in 2014. (And BCSFA produces 71,500 metric tonnes of fish each year).
“Salmon farmers have always only ever prescribed (by a veterinarian) antibiotics when animals are showing signs of sickness,” said Dunn, adding that antibiotics are never used for growth.
Dunn also attributed the decline in antibiotics to the use of vaccines as well as the switch to farming Atlantic salmon, a species that suffers fewer ailments than Pacific salmon, commonly known for bacterial kidney disease.
Economic impact: $1.14 billion
In 2013 salmon farming in B.C. generated about $1.14 billion for the province’s economy. This includes about $411.5 million in gross domestic produce (GDP) and $62 million in tax revenues for the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
About 40 per cent of the GDP, employment and tax revenues came from North Vancouver Island, 35 per cent from the Lower Mainland, with the rest coming from West Vancouver Island, East Vancouver Island and Central Coast and South Vancouver Island.
According to Dunn, while some of B.C.’s biggest farming companies are globally owned, they’re still “very much made up of hardworking Canadians.”
The farms also contribute millions of dollars to the communities in which they operate by using small, local family-owned businesses for services such as trucking, cleaning, harvest vessels, divers and waste disposal.
“It’s important to show that those multinational companies are employing British Columbians and that their sub-contractors and suppliers are all Canadian businesses,” said Dunn.
Number of jobs: 4,977
In 2013, BCSFA filled, both directly and indirectly, nearly 5,000 positions in B.C. That number includes 2,400 direct, full time positions and about 2,500 indirect jobs all around coastal B.C.
Jobs include farm and hatchery, site operations, health management, marketing, administration and regulation.
And 30 per cent of those jobs are held by people of Aboriginal descent, as BCSFA harvests from areas covered by agreements with First Nations and thus has 19 economic and social partnership agreements with coastal First Nations.
The average wage of those employed within B.C.’s salmon farming industry is about $42,000, which is 30 per cent more than the median employment income in B.C. ($32,888).
BCSFA’s sustainability progress report can be found on bcsalmonfarmers.ca.
