Aquaculture Regulations and how they are impacting Salmon Farming and Salmon Farming jobs in British Columbia.
The Courier Islander has reported on this topic in the following three articles:
DFO says Cohen Commission to blame for delays
Outdated regulations cause farmers concern
Is government foot dragging costing processing jobs?
DFO says Cohen Commission to blame for delays
By Dan MacLennan, Courier-Islander December 7, 2011
Blame the Cohen Commission, in part, for delays in processing amendment applications for fish farm licenses, says DFO.
Last week, in the wake of announced job and production cuts from Marine Harvest Canada, a number of fish farmers said a slow regulatory process is hurting efforts to improve efficiency.
MHC announced late in October that it will shed roughly 60 jobs from its total of about 500 and cut production by 30 per cent in reaction to decreasing prices stemming from an increase in global production.
Mainstream Canada said it wasn't planning any layoffs but it could be much more efficient if it was allowed to increase production at some of it's farms. Applications for approval to do that remain stalled with DFO.
Grieg Seafood's Managing Director Stewart Hawthorn said old regulations are hurting efficiency efforts.
"We should have a world-leading, positive, responsible farming community here," he said. "Instead, we've been stuck with no growth for more than 10 years now. You've got no way of getting your costs down because your regulations are stuck 15 years ago."
Asked about the slow pace of application processing, DFO issued the following statement last week.
"Until the results of the Cohen Commission are known, eligible businesses may still apply for licences and amendments. However, decisions on applications for new marine salmon aquaculture sites and for substantial amendments to existing marine salmon aquaculture licences, where there is potential for a significant increase in the environmental footprint, will be postponed until DFO has time to consider the recommendations of the Commission."
DFO said decisions will continue to be made on aquaculture applications such as:
. All categories of applications related to shellfish, freshwater, enhancement and non-salmonid marine aquaculture
. Applications for administrative, name change or technical amendments to marine salmon licences
. Applications for existing marine salmon farms which have been previously licensed by the Province but which do not yet have a federal licence
. Applications for new sites that would replace an existing site, in the same area, where the new site may have a lower environmental impact at the equivalent production level.
The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River was established in late 2009.
The commission's task is to investigate "the causes for the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon including, but not limited to, the impact of environmental changes along the Fraser River, marine environmental conditions, aquaculture, predators, diseases, water temperature and other factors that may have affected the ability of sockeye salmon to reach traditional spawning grounds or reach the ocean, and the current state of Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks and the long term projections for those stocks, and to develop recommendations for improving the future sustainability of the sockeye salmon fishery in the Fraser River including, as required, any changes to the policies, practices and procedures of the Department (of Fisheries and Oceans) in relation to the management of the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery."
The Commission's final report is due by the end of June, 2012.
Outdated regulations cause farmers concern
By Dan MacLennan, Campbell River Courier-Islander December 2, 2011
Other local fish farmers say they're not planning layoffs and production cuts like Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) in reaction to slumping global prices, but they also say a slow regulatory process is hurting efforts to improve efficiency.
MHC announced late in October that it will shed roughly 60 jobs from its total of about 500 and cut production by 30 per cent in reaction to decreasing prices stemming from an increase in global production. Other local players have yet to go that route.
Mainstream Canada currently employs around 260 people, including all farm and office operations and a plant in Tofino.
"Mainstream Canada is not planning any layoffs or reductions in production but we are certainly trying to find ways to save money and be more efficient as we prepare to deal with what is looking to be a long-term slump in salmon prices," spokesperson Grant Warkentin told the Courier-Islander this week.
He said Mainstream could improve efficiencies and lower production costs if it was allowed to increase production at some of its farms. The company has applied to amend some farm licenses to increase production, but the applications have yet to receive approval from government regulators. That's hurt other companies such as Browns Bay Packing, he said.
"This has been something we have been facing for several years," he said. "We simply cannot provide them enough fish to operate the plant full-time because for years the federal and provincial governments have not allowed us to expand or even adjust our operations on the East Coast of Vancouver Island to operate our sites at their full potential. This means we cannot provide Browns Bay with fish for most of next year. This unfortunately will affect the jobs Browns Bay provides for the Campbell River area. (See related story on page 7.)
"There has also been a lack of comprehensive consultation by the government on the site amendments. Many of the amendments we need were applied for years ago under the provincial government and were never dealt with by either level of senior government. We have been waiting ever since and in the meantime we are faced with dwindling production on the East Coast of the island."
Meanwhile, Grieg Seafood's Managing Director Stewart Hawthorn tells a similar story. Grieg employs about 120 people in BC.
"For Grieg right now, we're not expecting to have any layoffs," he said. "But that said, it's a very challenging situation out there. We'll be continuing to review where we're at but we're not expecting it at this stage.
"To a large extent, the reason that BC's feeling the pinch is because of the very high cost structures we've got here. Those high cost structures are related to the way the farms are set up which is linked to the way we're regulated. A lot of these rules and regulations were put in place 10 to 20 years ago and there hasn't been a lot of change in them despite a change in the regulator. We've learned a lot in that time and really we should have systems set up so that we can make sensible changes so we can have efficient farms. Then we wouldn't be seeing some of these impacts.
"We have lots of productive discussion but we need to see some action. That's what we need to get to now. It's challenging for the regulator as well because they're new to it.
"We should have a world-leading, positive, responsible farming community here. Instead, we've been stuck with no growth for more than 10 years now. You've got no way of getting your costs down because your regulations are stuck 15 years ago. So there's a responsibility on BC and on the federal government to say 'we want to get behind aquaculture and make it happen.' I think that they can and I look forward to that day."
Is government foot dragging costing processing jobs?
By Dan MacLennan, Campbell River Courier-Islander December 2, 2011
A lack of farmed fish has cost the Campbell River economy jobs, and the latest announcement of production cuts is more bad news, says Browns Bay Packing general manager Dave Stover.
"(Wednesday) morning at 9 o'clock we did our last fish until further notice," he said. "We've had three sizable shutdowns in the last three years that have been at least three months in length and it's hard to keep people. We've lost a lot of our skilled workforce. People just can't afford to feed families on 80 days of work a year."
Stover said 80 to 90 people worked at the processing plant north of Campbell River in 2007, processing roughly 30 million pounds of fish on operations of at least 160 days per year. Since then, however, the volume and the workforce have dropped by half.
"Our only business is a fee for service," Stover said. "We clean fish, we off-load fish, we process fish and that's our business. We don't draw income any other way other than processing fish, so when your tonnage gets cut in half, that's what you're left with."
Browns Bay Packing does not regularly process Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) fish, but it does handle MHC fish on an overflow basis, when MHC needs added processing capacity. But now that MHC has announced layoffs of up to 60 people and production cuts of 30 per cent, Stover's not expecting to see more overflow fish.
"Marine Harvest's goal is to put all of their fish through their own (Port Hardy) facility, so it's unlikely that Browns Bay will see any additional fish from another supplier, including Grieg Seafoods. There just is not enough fish to keep all the facilities operating on a year-round basis."
The problem, said Stover, is a lack of federal government action on fish farm applications to amend their licenses to produce more fish.
"The government has not moved the amendments through on the aquaculture licenses that are before them, to raise the historic tonnage that those license raise," he said. "There's amendments that would allow Mainstream to raise 600,000 on a site. Several sites currently are only licensed for 300,000 fish.
"If that happened, that would put us back to '07 levels which would be 30 million pounds, something like 80 jobs. Because that hasn't happened, we have 40 jobs and we have 15 million pounds to do, which we do in about 80 days of work on an annual basis.
"We've been in a marginal holding pattern for at least two years and we likely have two more. We have to pressure. We have to hope that the federal government will make a favorable decision on first the amendments and secondly allow the industry some growth so we can continue to be competitive. The best growing conditions for salmon in the world are right at our doorstep. Arguably the best market in the world for salmon is next door in the United States and everybody in our industry is on hold."
Reference Link: Marine Harvest Canada reacts to global increase in farmed salmon supply at: http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/news102811.php
