Chronicle Herald
December 24, 2012

Atlantic Canada’s aquaculture industry is helping wild salmon return to a New Brunswick river that empties into the Bay of Fundy.

And preliminary results are astounding, says a fish farming industry group.

“In a river that would maybe have two fish come back (annually), we saw 40 fish come back” this year, Pamela Parker, executive director of the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association, said about work on the Big Salmon River.

That’s the largest return in more than 20 years, she said in a recent interview.

The project, part of the association’s work to help rehabilitate the inner Bay of Fundy wild salmon fishery, was done in partnership with Parks Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Working in conjunction with Fundy National Park, smolts, young salmon heading to sea for the first time, were taken to an aquaculture site in Back Bay, N.B., Parker said.

They were kept there for a year, which allowed them to “get stronger and to get acclimatized to the marine conditions,” she said.

They were tagged before being released, so project members were able to verify that it was fish from the project that returned to the river, Parker said.

Read the full article in the Chronicle Herald.

Andrew Pollack
December 22, 2012
New York Times

Fisheries Information Service
December 20, 2012

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the presence of the Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) virus at an aquaculture site on the south coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

According the CFIA the site is being monitored closely by the Provincial Government.

Federal and provincial protocols and procedures have been activated aiming to limit the spread of the virus.

"While ISA is not harmful to humans, if not managed properly it could cause further risk to other fish farms in the region. Thus far, there is no sign of the virus spreading," said Derrick Dalley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. "However, in all cases where aquatic diseases are suspected or confirmed, the goal is to minimize exposure to infection and disruption to producers, while respecting obligations to take appropriate and prudent precautionary control measures. For that reason, CFIA had previously quarantined the infected site and our government will continue to provide any and all necessary support as the situation evolves and a depopulation order for the infected fish is issued."

Initial laboratory results tested positive for ISA virus on Monday, November 26.

Read the complete article on the Fisheries Information Service. 

Read related articles:

• VOCM; December 20, 2012; "Salmonid association calling for action on aquaculture" 
• Times Colonist; December 18, 2012; "Outbreak of salmon virus confirmed at fish farm in southern Newfoundland"
• The Telegram; December 18, 2012; "New case of infectious salmon anemiai at south coast aquaculture site confirmed"
• CBC News; December 9, 2012; "Association renews please for land-based aquaculture"
• Daily Business Buzz; December 5, 2012; "Suspected case of salmon anemia discovered at aquaculture farm"
• Metro News; December 5, 2012; "Disease suspected at N.L. aquaculture site"
  

Severin Carrell
December 17, 2012
The Guardian

Scottish salmon is facing a challenge to its reputation as one of Britain's best loved everyday luxuries, with scares over diseases and sea lice, heavy use of pesticides and seal killing raising fears about its environmental impact.

A new fish-farming company called Fishfrom believes it can help solve the industry's problem, and even partly solve future crises over food shortages. Its answer: take salmon farming entirely out of the sea. 

It is planning to build a vast new warehouse on the west coast of Scotland where it hopes to farm salmon on dry land, cultivating thousands of tonnes of fresh salmon untainted by chemicals, sea lice and seal-control, in a self-contained facility run on renewable electricity.

That factory, at Tayinloan, just opposite the Hebridean island of Gigha, will be powered largely by solar panels and a small hydro scheme nearby, feed its salmon on its own supply of a specially farmed marine animal called ragworm, and will recycle nearly all the water it needs onsite.

"It does hit all the right parts of sustainable nutrition, grown by authenticated methods. We know that they work," said Andrew Robertson, the firm's director.

"Closed containment has got to the point where we can deliver a robust business model and it will be energy efficient. But most important, it'll deliver a fantastic product in a short period of time, with a minimal footprint compared to conventional aquaculture."

The firm argues that using farmed ragworm, a burrowing creature which is abundant in estuaries and mudbanks, will save the wild sand eels, anchovies and other fish currently used to feed conventional salmon farms from damaging exploitation. Even the factory's waste could eventually be used to make power.

Fishform plans to ship out 800,000 salmon a year from that single site, supplying retailers such as Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Youngs Seafood and in France, Carrefour and Auchain. It already supplies Heston Blumenthal's Michelin-starred restaurant in Berkshire, the Fat Duck, with farmed trout fed on its inhouse fishfood

Read the full story in The Guardian

Listen to CBC "As It Happens" Podcast; December 18, 2012; "Dryland salmon farming" 

Denis Calnan
Toronto Star
December 14, 2012

There’s something fishy going on in Prince Edward Island.

A professor at Atlantic Veterinary College says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is trying to discredit his work after tests he conducted showed a virus in British Columbia’s valuable wild salmon population. Dr. Frederick Kibenge, who found the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus in October 2011, is recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health — known as the OIE — as an expert on the virus.

Despite Kibenge’s results, and a Department of Fisheries and Oceans lab in B.C. that also found ISA, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has maintained that West Coast salmon is free of the virus, which has never been found in the province before.

If the virus is confirmed, it could have a devastating impact on the wild salmon industry in the province.

The OIE says Kibenge’s results in other cases were questioned by OIE member countries — it wouldn’t say which ones — and that it conducted an audit of his lab this summer. The organization says the “conclusions of the audit were unfavourable and showed that a series of weaknesses in the system have a direct impact on the quality of diagnosis conducted by AVC.”

Kibenge, chair of the department of pathology and microbiology and professor of virology at AVC, where he has been since 1989, says the international cases were “never questioned” when the OIE met with him. The only case talked about was in British Columbia.

The CFIA had earlier conducted its own inspection of the lab and raised concerns, which the AVC said it would address.

Kibenge’s lab is one of only two OIE-designated labs worldwide that studies the virus; the other is in Norway.

Read the complete story in the Toronto Star. 

• Globe and Mail; November 23, 2012; "Ottawa moves against PEI lab that reported virus in B.C. salmon" 
• Vancouver Observer; November 25, 2012; "Friends of the Earth calls for investigation into silencing of Canadian salmon scientist"
  

Kevin Drews
December 19, 2012
Gobal News

A salmon-farming critic may have won a recent defamation case in B.C. Supreme Court, but he's now facing a hefty bill after being rebuked financially for his conduct during the same trial.

Justice Elaine Adair awarded British-born Don Staniford only 25 per cent of his costs Wednesday and ordered him to pay Mainstream Canada, the salmon-farming company and plaintiff in the case, $8,300 for court fees,

That's even though the court usually awards costs to the winning party.

The case went to trial earlier this year over a 2011 campaign that included images of cigarette packages with statements that read "Salmon Farming Kills Like Smoking."

"I have concluded that Mr. Staniford's open disrespect for the witnesses and disdain for the court and the judicial process are deserving of rebuke," said Adair, who noted court rules allowed her to censure Staniford for his actions.

Adair said that during the 20-day trial, Staniford mocked the physical appearances of witnesses, accused a First Nations band of taking "blood money," compared the trial to a "kangaroo court," and relaunched his website campaign using a service provider outside of Canada.

The judge said that while Staniford "claims to be a champion of free speech," he "cruelly and publicly mocks" people who have different opinions.

She also pointed out examples of his "passive aggression."

What the ruling means financially remains unknown because the activist's lawyer, David Sutherland, declined comment, saying he was reviewing the decision and the case is under appeal. Read it on Global News: Global News | No legal-fee reprieve for victorious salmon-farming critic censured by judge

Read the full article in Global News.

Read related stories:

• The Province; December 19, 2012; "Judge penalizes fish-farm foe who won defamation case" 
• Courier-Islander; October 17, 2012; "Mainstream to appeal decision"
  
• CBC News; October 16, 2012; "B.C. salmon farming company appeals defamation ruling"
• Times Colonist; October 16, 2012; "Salmon farming company appeals judge's ruling in defamation case"
  
• CTV News; October 16, 2012; "B.C. salmon farming company appeals ruling in defamation case"
  
• Westerly News; October 16, 2012; "Mainstream Canada appeals Staniford ruling"
  
• World Fishing & Aquaculture; October 8, 2012; "Court finds activist claims to be malicious"
  
• Westerly News; October 4, 2012; "Mainstream defamation suit dismissed by BC Supreme Court"
  
• The Daily News; October 4, 2012; "Salmon farm activist acquitted of defamation"
  
• Times Colonist; October 3, 2012; "Defendant odious, but still wins suit"
  
• Vancouver Sun; September 29, 2012; "Court upholds salmon farm foe's right to make defamatory remarks"
• Times Colonist; September 29, 2012; "Court dismisses salmon farming defamation suit"
  
• CTV; September 29, 2012; "Judge lets fish farm activist off the hook"
• Vancouver Observer; September 29, 2012; "Score one for the enviros"
  
• CBC; September 28, 2012; "Anti-salmon-farming activist wins B.C. court victory"
  
• The Province; September 28, 2012; "Salmon-farming activist wins defamation case in B.C. court"
  
• Calgary Herald; September 28, 2012; "Activist wins defamation case launched by salmon-farming company"
  
• Bonnyville Nouvells; September 28, 2012; "Activist wins defamation case launched by salmon-farming company"
  
• Vancouver Sun; September 28, 2012; "B.C. Supreme Court upholds right of anti-salmon farm activist to make defamatory remarks"
  

Campbell River Mirror
December 17, 2012

Grieg Seafood has received notice from the Global Aquaculture Alliance that it has attained Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for an additional three salmon farms.

This makes 11 of its farms having successfully undergone a voluntary audit by independent auditors of the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

Read the original article in the Campbell River Mirror.

Galway News
December 13, 2012

Read the original article in the Galway News.

Read related article:

• Irish Times; December 10, 2012; "Opposition mounts to super-sized fish farm in Galway Bay"
• Limerick Leader; December 9, 2012; "Anglers fear salmon super farm will impact local wild stocks"
  

Fisheries Informaton Service
December 13, 2012

A new report by market research firm Coriolis for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, says New Zealand has strong "hypothetical potential" to increase its harvest for its high-value fish species.Nevertheless, the report, titled Investment Opportunities in the New Zealand Salmon Industry, does not recommend investment in the sector due to the high levels of risk, uncertainty and cost around ocean space tenure.

Norway, which has a much more developed industry, produces 75 times as much salmon as New Zealand, which is geographically similar in size, The New Zealand Herald reports.

The country's salmon exports were worth NZD 63.4 million (USD 53 million) last year, according to statistics of Aquaculture NZ.

But the Coriolis report states that although there is potential for growth, it is unlikely to occur:

"The fundamental issue is that New Zealand as a society has yet to come to a consensus on salmon aquaculture, with proponents arguing for it to become a billion dollar industry, while a wide-ranging opposition of recreational fishermen, inshore fishing companies, holiday home owners and environmental advocates oppose its growth."

Read the complete story on Fisheries Information Service. 

Fish News EU
December 12, 2012

A COALITION of conservation organisations has called for a pan-Irish boycott of farmed smoked salmon at Christmas, as part of the protest against the expansion of salmon farming along the Irish coast.

According to conservationists, the plans to site a ‘mega-farm’ in Galway Bay contradicts the moratorium on fish farms agreed under the National Development Plan’s Irish Seafood National Program 2007 – 2013 published in July 2010.

These developments led to a national meeting of groups and individuals opposing open net salmon farms in Bantry last month addressed by international anti fish farm campaigners. The Boycott campaign was agreed at that meeting and is supported by 10 different organisations including angling and environmental groups.

A spokesperson for the campaign said: “The public does not realise that countless scientific papers have shown without a doubt that salmon farming in the current locations in Ireland will decimate our own wild fish stocks and pollute our bays. Battery operations like this on land would have their waste strictly controlled, not released into the open. Salmon farming must be done in contained units that protect the environment and create a barrier to infections and parasites.”

Read the full article in Fish News EU.

Read related articles:

• West Cork Times; December 3, 2012; "Anti salmon farm protestors to hold demo at minister’s office"
  
• West Cork Times; November 26, 2012; "Show of force from Bantry fish farm protestors"
  
• Irish Examiner; November 26, 2012; "Outspoken opponent of fish-farming rallies support"
  
• The Fish Site; November 23, 2012; "Large Crowd Expected at Fish Farm Protest Meeting"
  
• West Cork Times; November 21, 2012; "Showdown looming over future of fish farming in Bantry Bay"

Radio New Zealand
December 12, 2012

A Marlborough Sounds teenager opposed to the expansion of salmon farming in the Sounds has presented an 11,000-signature petition to Parliament.

Leona Plaisier is campaigning against New Zealand King Salmon's proposal to build nine new salmon farms in different parts of the Sounds - eight in areas where marine farming is currently prohibited.

An Environmental Protection Authority Board of Inquiry is considering the company's application and is expected to release a decision soon.

Ms Plaisier, who was named DoC's Conservation Champion, says she started the petition so people could have a say without having to struggle with the lengthy application and hearing process.

She says it's basically intensive farming so the waste and the feed that settles underneath the farms accumulates over time and it also gets pushed through in the currents.

Ms Plaisier presented her petition to Green Party MP Steffan Browning, who's also been outspoken about the salmon farming expansion.

Read the full article on Radio New Zealand.

Read related articles:

• Business Day; December 12, 2012; "Teen takes salmon farm petition to Beehive"
• Scoop; December 12, 2012; "EPA should consider public opposition to salmon farm"
  

The Fish Site
December 11, 2012

Mainstream Canada is the the first salmon farming company in BC to achieve two-star Best Aquaculture Practices certification this week, after its Tofino processing plant was certified.

Mainstream Canada has already achieved Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification from the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) for several farm sites. In 2011, Mainstream's Brent Island farm was the first salmon farm in the world to achieve BAP certification.

Achieving BAP certification for Mainstream's Pacific National Processing plant in Tofino means another first for Mainstream - with farm sites and now a processing plant certified, Mainstream is the first salmon farming company in BC to achieve two-star certification from GAA for farming and processing.

"We are very proud of this achievement. It shows our commitment to leading the way in sustainable aquaculture practices on our farms and in our processing facilities," said Fernando Villarroel, Mainstream Canada's managing director. "This new processing plant certification shows we are committed to the highest standards in producing salmon for our customers that is fresh, food safe and nutritious."

The Global Aquaculture Alliance's Best Aquaculture Practices standards are dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture. They are made to continuously improve over time and they are the result of an international science-based certification program. For more information on BAP, visit http://www.gaalliance.org/bap/.

Read the full article on The Fish Site.

Read related article:

• FIS; December 10, 2012; "Mainstream Canada Attains Two-Star BAP Certification"
  

Judith Lavoie
Times Colonist
December 5, 2012

Some First Nations around Vancouver Island are given licences to shoot sea lions and remove whiskers and hides for ceremonial purposes, but Paul Cottrell, Fisheries and Oceans marine mammal coordinator, doubts if the mysterious cluster of headless sea lion bodies recently found on northern Vancouver Island has anything to do with an authorized First Nations harvest.

"Under the licence conditions they have to report the kill and the species and, typically, we don't have Steller sea lions on the licence," Cottrell said.

The exception is in some northern areas, where there are few California sea lions, and DFO scientists are consulted about conservation needs, he said.

"Then we may allow a few Stellers, but very few."

Steller sea lions are listed as animals of special concern in Canada, and as threatened in the U.S.

Licences are approved by area managers, said Cottrell, who could not say how many have been issued this year.

"I don't know the number off the top of my head, but it's not a large number," he said.

Licence conditions require the animals be killed in a humane manner.

Some First Nations use sea lion whiskers to make traditional masks and the hide is used for drum-making.

Three bullet-ridden and mutilated Steller sea lions turned up in Campbell River and Comox over the last week.

"Two were decapitated and the third one had half the head and part of the skin removed," Cottrell said.

A headless harbour seal was found in Barkley Sound earlier this week.

"One of the difficult things is the animals might have died elsewhere and washed up on the beach and then been decapitated," Cottrell said.

Since the discoveries, there have been reports of dead sea lions from various locations around Vancouver Island, but, with decomposition, it is difficult to tell how some of them died, Cottrell said.

"We are going back over the last couple of months trying to piece this together," he said.

Read the full article in the Times Colonist.

FIS
December 4, 2012

Land-based fish farms have gained traction and are now recognised as productive, efficient and adaptable, according to a recent workshop in the Wilfred Carter Atlantic Salmon Interpretive Centre in New Brunswick.

The purpose of the workshop -- attended by the Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST) and Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), plus representatives from Canada, the US and Europe involved in creating closed containment (CC) systems -- was to provide updates on the progress made in alternative forms of salmon farming and particularly land-based options.

It was agreed that new technologies will work together with existing open cage systems rather than take their place, offering the option of locating farms closer to retailers and markets. Farmers would also have more control over water quality, temperature, disease management, early maturation and delivery of daily husbandry, The Irish Times reports.

ASF and AST highlighted the extent to which CC technologies can allow for a “biological firewall” between farmed salmon and wild fish, reducing the risk of polluting and spreading disease, but how land-based systems were more reliable in this respect.

Conversely, the new prototypes may be more expensive and would have more difficult access to fresh water, plus greater electricity costs and consumer resistance.

Atlantic Sapphire is a possible market leader in developing commercially viable land-based CC systems. It is planning to develop a 2,500-ton CC facility in the US with the intent of growing production to 16,000 tonnes in the next decade.

The company is interested in using sustainable feeds and various firms in the UK, Canada, Norway, China and US are following suit.

Read the original article on FIS.

Read related article:

• Irish Times; December 4, 2012; "Land-based fish farms now part of aquaculture's future"
  

Courier-Islander
November 30, 2012

Anti-fish farm activist Alexandra Morton will be one of four North Island people to receive a Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal next week.

But a press release about the occasion did not mention fish farms or aquaculture at all.

"Alexandra Morton's name has become a household word for many people on the BC coast, for her unrelenting commitment to the wild salmon stocks," said the press release from local MLA Claire Trevena. "As a young marine biologist, Morton moved to the Broughton Archipelago to study orcas. Over time she became concerned with the loss of their principle food, wild salmon, and has since devoted her life to finding the causes.

Her energy and leadership, securing funds for studies and bringing thousands of people out to demonstrate their shared concerns, has brought the issue to the forefront."

Jacquie Gordon, Chief Robert Joseph, Wa Wasden and Morton will receive medals at ceremonies in Campbell River on Dec, 3 and at Alert Bay on Dec. 6.

Trevena, along with MLAs and MPs across the country, were invited to recognize the hard work of people who volunteer their time to make Canada a better place. MLAs were tasked with selecting just four people per constituency.

Read the full article in the Courier-Islander.

Elizabeth Payne
Ottawa Citizen
November 29, 2012

If there were persistent reports of mad cow disease in Canadian beef, say, or hoof-and-mouth disease, you would expect the federal government to act quickly to get to the bottom of the issue.

Which makes the government’s reaction to the threat of a potentially devastating salmon virus on the West Coast confounding. Canada has a growing fish farming industry on both coasts and world-renowned wild salmon stocks, which many fear are at risk from fish farms. Infectious salmon anemia would not have the same direct impact on human health as some animal illnesses, but it is a “reportable disease” because of its serious potential — the deadly virus could devastate both farmed and wild stocks, as it did in Chile.

Rather than simply working double time to determine whether the virus exists in wild and farmed salmon in the west and either looking for the source or taking precautionary action to make sure it does not get introduced, the federal government has invested energy and time into shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the scientists who say they have found evidence of the virus. Some prefer to characterize it as an attack on scientists whose findings, if true, could have serious implications for trade, for the aquaculture industry and wild salmon fishery.

“This is a classic campaign of denial, much like the tobacco industry,” said Rick Routledge, a professor at Simon Fraser University who discovered the virus in two of 48 sockeye smolts he collected as part of his research and, he says, was discredited by government officials as a result. The virus in the fish he collected was diagnosed at an independent Prince Edward Island lab, now threatened with being stripped of its international accreditation. The lab’s head, Dr. Fred Kibenge, has said he believes he is being punished by the federal government for testifying about his findings at a federal inquiry into declining sockeye salmon stocks.

Read the full article in the Ottawa Citizen.

The Fish Site
November 29, 2012

The Honourable Jim Bennett, the MHA for St. Barbe and the Liberal Fisheries Critic in the House of Assembly, is saying that the province’s aquaculture industry should only use land-based or closed-contained growing operations in the future.

Mr Bennett is basing his stance on Justice Bruce Cohens Final Report into the 17-year decline of the Fraser sockeye salmon in British Columbia, reports The Coaster.

Cohen recommends a freeze on salmon farming production on the Fraser salmon migration route and a revision of fish farm sitting criteria to protect salmon migration routes.

The report also says that, if by 2020, Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials cannot be certain farm salmon are not a threat to wild salmon, salmon farms should be prohibited from Fraser sockeye migration routes.

Mr Bennett said that the Cohen recommendations could as easily apply to aquaculture open-net operations in this province too. He stated that some of the issues related to the industry such as the ISA outbreak in Butter Cove this summer could have serious negative impacts on wild fish stocks here.

Bennett said, “I am not saying that we should shut the current Newfoundland aquaculture industry down.

“What I am saying is don’t grow it any bigger than what it is today, maintain the size you already have and move toward closed contained or land-based aquaculture operations.”

Bennett said that research shows that there is a higher-end niche market for higher-end produced salmon products and that some people will be willing to pay for the sustainable fish products raised on land.

Read the full article on The Fish Site.

Read related article:

• The Coaster; November 27, 2012; "Bennett proposes all land-based aquaculture"
  

Halifax Media Co-op
November 23, 2012

The rise of consumption in today's world is due to the rapid growth of the world's population, yet even more so with the rise of the philosophy of the “more is better” consumption culture. This fast, inhumane, pace of consumption is exhausting Canada's natural resources as well as the environment as a whole.

While wild fish stocks have largely collapsed, aquaculture development has recently been proven to be a revitalizing social and economic force, albeit potentially non-sustainably. Today, the growth in aquaculture production in Nova Scotia has far outpaced local human population growth. This has created a crisis between Nova Scotia communities and large-scale industries which have recently received support by the government.

In the past few months alone we have witnessed a great uprising of more than 100 communities and groups against the expansion of open-net pens in Nova Scotia. And as an indicator of the questionable quality of the product being produced, last month, on Oct. 18, one of Canada's national grocery retailers, Sobeys Inc., removed their Atlantic farmed salmon supply from most of its Maritimes stores. The farmed salmon supply was found to contain a great amount of sea lice. So far, the company has refused to give out any information regarding the suppliers and has promised customers to take greater inspection measures in the future to ensure the supply of better quality salmon.

Yet the questions remain: Is it actually possible for Sobeys and other Canadian grocery stores to supply a better quality of farmed salmon? Is it possible today to have open-net pen sustainable salmon farming? And why has salmon-farming become such a political issue, both in Nova Scotia and elsewhere?

Read the full article on Halifax Media Co-op.

Read related articles:

• CBC; October 22, 2012; "Salmon recall fires up fish farming debate"
  
• CBC; October 19, 2012; "Whole salmon to stay off Sobeys shelves for the weekend"
• CBC; October 19, 2012; "Fish Farmers defend Atlantic salmon after recall"
  
• The Guardian; October 19, 2012; "Sea lice in salmon poses no health risk: aquaculture expert"
• CBC; October 18, 2012; "Sobeys pulls whole salmon from stores - Facebook post leads to fish being pulled"

Campbell River Mirror
November 20, 2012

With B.C. aboriginal and environmental groups clambering for an end to salmon farming, one of the biggest players in the sector, Marine Harvest, is reminding the public that it has been quietly supporting wild salmon research for two years.

“In 2010, Marine Harvest, the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada partnered to begin research into wild salmon health and migratory patterns in the Discovery Islands area,” says Clare Backman, Director of Sustainable Programs at Marine Harvest Canada (MHC). “We look forward to expanding on our past support to do further research into the baseline health of wild salmon and the potential interactions with our salmon farms.”

Earlier this month the Cohen Commission of Inquiry concluded a three year probe into the decline of Fraser River sockeye and Justice Bruce Cohen presented 75 recommendations to the federal government. While global warming and fisheries management were highlighted in the report as the most serious concern to the future sustainably of the Fraser River sockeye, the recommendations also included a request for additional fish health data from government hatcheries and wild salmon migrating through the Discovery Islands area.

Commissioner Cohen said that wild sockeye could suffer “serious or irreversible harm” if exposed to disease and that the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) needed to recognize the possible risk of disease transfer between wild and farm fish.

He recommended that DFO undertake a decisive study of the risks to wild salmon from Discovery Islands fish farming operations.

Cohen’s recommendations “are all about protecting wild salmon which is central to the work that we do each day on our farms,” Backman says. “We’re confident that our farms are not a risk to wild salmon and we support more research to confirm that.”

Read the full article in the Campbell River Mirror.

Chronicle Herald
November 19, 2012

Stewart Lamont thinks there is something fishy about Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association claims that salmon farms don’t have a negative impact on wild lobster.

“They have more nerve than Dick Tracy,” the managing director of Tangier Lobster Co. Ltd. on the Eastern Shore said in an email Monday.

The fish farmers association said Monday in its 2012 year-in-review that lobster populations near a New Brunswick salmon farm have grown dramatically in the past several years.

“Highlights of the report include details about a groundbreaking lobster survey that shows the number of berried female lobsters more than tripled at locations adjacent to a new salmon farm on Grand Manan that was surveyed annually over a period of five years,” association executive director Pamela Parker said in a news release.

“To this point, the data shows that the salmon farms did not have a negative impact on wild lobster populations in this area.”

Large-scale salmon farming has come under fire in Nova Scotia, where planned expansion by New Brunswick giant Cooke Aquaculture in southwestern Nova Scotia and by Scotland’s Loch Duart Ltd. on the Eastern Shore are seen as threats to the lucrative lobster fishery.

Tangier Lobster ships three million pounds of lobster a year to 18 countries.

Lamont, who also sits on the Lobster Council of Canada’s board of directors, questioned how the fish farmers association could celebrate achievements given the problems the industry has faced in Nova Scotia this year, including mass kills of farmed fish stricken with infectious salmon anemia.

“Are we all actually looking at the same industry?” he said, suggesting the association’s lobster survey should be reviewed with skepticism.

Read the full article in the Chronicle Herald.

Randy Shore
November 17, 2012
Vancouver Sun

Twenty-three thousand Atlantic salmon smolts will arrive at the 'Namgis First Nation's salmon farm in January, just a fraction of the millions of similar fish that grow to maturity each year in B.C.

What's different about these fish is that they will never swim in the ocean, never come in contact with wild salmon and never be treated for sea lice.

'Namgis Closed Containment Salmon Farm is the first commercial-scale, land-based fish farm for Atlantic salmon in North America. It's part of a global trend of large closed-containment farms also being pursued in Denmark and in Chile.

The 'Namgis smolts will grow to maturity in just 12 to 15 months in a facility nearing completion not far from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island. The 'Namgis farm uses five 500-cubic-metre tanks capable of producing a total 500 tonnes of fish each year.

The system is the first of five identical modules to be built on the site, when the designs and systems are proven, for total capacity of 2,500 tonnes a year, about the same as a net-pen salmon farm.

Despite the extra costs associated with land-based salmon farming, the product needn't cost much more than net-pen Atlantic salmon. The carefully controlled environment in an advanced closed-containment system allows the fish grow to maturity twice as fast, in a smaller space with less feed than net-pen salmon.

Concerns about the spread of disease and sea lice between wild and farmed salmon make a commercially viable land-based Atlantic salmon farm something of an environmental Holy Grail.

And that search has intensified since the report of the Cohen Commission found that net-pen salmon farms can and do hurt the health of B.C.'s wild sockeye salmon stocks. The report urges an immediate freeze on new net-pen farms along sockeye migration routes.

The 'Namgis project is intended to be a hothouse for innovation with the goal of advancing closed-containment technology for Atlantic salmon to commercial viability as quickly as possible. For that purpose, 'Namgis has attracted $8.5 million from philanthropic, conservation and government sources, coordinated by the conservation foundation Tides Canada.

"We put together this innovation fund to explore land-based aquaculture as an alternative to open net aquaculture, primarily as a way to better protect the marine environment and wild salmon," said Catherine Emrick, who co-ordinates the fund at Tides Canada.

The 'Namgis First Nation spent years challenging the provincial and federal government in court over the "mismanagement" of the net-pen salmon industry near their traditional territories, according to Chief Bill Cranmer.

"We had seen the effects on our sockeye salmon returns on the Nimpkish River and the effect of the sea lice on the chum," said Cranmer. "Eric Hobson at Save Our Salmon told us we could use litigation, but we should also provide an alternative."

From that seed planted six years ago, a partnership has grown including Tides Canada Salmon Aquaculture Innovation Fund ($3.7 million), Sustainable Development and Technology Canada ($2.65 million), Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program, ($800,000), Aboriginal Affairs Canada ($257,000), Coast Sustainability Trust ($113,000) and the 'Namgis First Nation ($1 million.)

To survive and thrive, land-based systems have to compete on both price and quality with net-pen Atlantic salmon, while using an infrastructure that requires significantly more money to build and to run.

Read the full article in the Vancouver Sun.

Read related articles:

• Vancouver Sun; November 17, 2012; "Environmental pressure creates demand for sustainable fish"
• Intrafish; November 13, 2012; "Land-based salmon farm on track for sales launch"
• Intrafish; November 13, 2012; "Chefs like it, but will investors buy into land-farmed salmon"
  

Mark Hume
November 15, 2012
Globe and Mail

Salmon farmers in British Columbia have effectively broken a "transmission cycle" in which sea lice were being spread from farmed to wild fish, according to a new scientific paper.

The transmission of sea lice from farms, where millions of fish are raised in tightly packed ocean pens, has been blamed for the collapse of wild salmon stocks, particularly in the Broughton Archipelago off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, where some runs of pink salmon have declined by as much as 90 per cent in some years.

But a paper published by the Ecological Society of America states that when farmers in that region treat their stock with a chemical known as Slice, they can knock back the sea lice population so effectively that few of the parasites transfer to wild fish.

The paper also reports, however, that farms should use the treatment earlier in the year to maximize the impact.

"It's a very effective drug for now in British Columbia, as long as it's used at the right time," said Stan Proboszcz, one of the authors of the paper and a biologist with Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Mr. Proboszcz said the research, which was led by Stephanie Peacock of the University of Alberta and Martin Krkosek of the University of Otago, New Zealand, looked at sea lice infestations in farmed and wild salmon stocks over a nine-year period.

The researchers found that outbreaks in the wild populations were significantly lower when farmed fish were treated with Slice late in winter, before wild juvenile pink salmon had begun to migrate past the net pens.

Sea lice outbreaks in the Broughton Archipelago were blamed after some runs of wild pink salmon were virtually wiped out in 2002. In response, some farms along the salmon migration route were left fallow and regulations were set requiring farmed salmon to be treated with pesticides when there were signs of sea lice outbreaks.

Mr. Proboszcz said that, as farms have adopted the use of Slice over the past decade, the mortality rate for wild salmon has fallen.

"Our results indicate positive conservation outcomes due to adaptive changes in management of parasites in salmon aquaculture facilities," the paper states. "These results provide an example of how management of sea lice on farm salmon can be improved, with relevance to management of sea lice on farm salmon in Canada, Europe and other areas of the world."

However, Mr. Proboszcz said he fears Slice could lose its effectiveness, as it has in some places in the Atlantic.

Read the original article in the Globe and Mail.

Read related articles:

• FIS; November 16, "Timing of sea lice treatments crucial to reduce infestation of wild salmon: study"
  
• The Fish Site; November 19, 2012; "Researchers Uncover Good News for BC's Salmon Populations"
  
• CBC; November 15, 2012; "Sea lice strategy could help save salmon"
• The Province; November 15, 2012; "Salmon health could be improved with timed lice treatment"
• Science Daily; November 15, 2012; "Saving Salmon from Deadly Sea Lice"
  
• The Tyee; November 15, 2012; "Timing of lice treatment could mean better health for wild and farmed salmon"
• CNews; November 15, 2012; "Simple shift in parasite treatment has helped B.C. salmon"
  

Larry Pynn
Vancouver Sun
November 14, 2012

Aboriginals and environmentalists on Wednesday urged the B.C. government not to renew leases for open-net salmon farms on the B.C. coast.

The groups say they are planning to hold a peaceful demonstration outside Premier Christy Clark's constituency office in Point Grey at noon and deliver an 11,000-signature petition expressing opposition to the renewal of salmon farm leases in B.C.

In a statement, Molina Dawson of the Dzawada'enuxw First Nation from Kingcome Inlet said: "I know without a doubt that the cost to our wild salmon — and everything that relies on them — isn't worth it. So, as long as the government and fish farm companies are actively endangering our fish they will not be getting any support from me."

The Cohen Commission report last month suggested that salmon farms "have the potential to introduce exotic diseases and to exacerbate endemic diseases which can have a negative effect on Fraser River sockeye."

Cohen said that Fraser sockeye could suffer "serious or irreversible harm" if exposed to disease and that the federal fisheries department needs to recognize the possible risk of disease transfer between wild and farm fish.

However, he declined to quantify the scale of risk, saying it "requires further study."

As a result, Cohen is recommending that federal fisheries undertake a decisive study of the risks to wild salmon from Discovery Islands fish farming operations, north of Campbell River, with conclusive results by 2020, as well as an annual cap on salmon production.

Courier-Islander
November 14, 2012

North Island College has received an Entry Level Innovation Enhancement (IE) grant to fund research into the utilization of hard seabed substrates in salmon aquaculture.

This grant is awarded under the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

IE grants are designed to foster partnerships between colleges and the private sector that will lead to business innovation at the local, regional and national levels. Specifically, this grant will build North Island College's applied research and technology transfer capacity to support and collaborate with the Vancouver Island salmon aquaculture industry.

The BC Salmon Farming Association (BCSFA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) have identified a need to strengthen capacity in monitoring of hard bed substrates where some fish farms are, or may, in the future, be located. This project addresses two fundamental research issues of concern to fish farmers and regulators: 1) What are the significant ecological changes likely to occur at hard bottom sites associated with salmon farm operations?; and 2) What are the physical, biological and/or chemical habitat indicators and their threshold(s) at which significant negative macro-benthic changes occur? In consultation with the industry and research partners, a two-year research program intended to address these questions was proposed.

Read the full article in the Courier-Islander.

Read related story:

• Comox Valley Record; November 14, 2012; "Grant will fund North Island College salmon aquaculture research"
  

Herald Scotland
November 10, 2012

The B8025 in Argyll is not one of Scotland's better-known roads, and only normally rates a public mention when the A83 is blocked somewhere between Ardrishaig and Tarbert.

Along its 30 miles lies the Ormsary Estate.

It is a beautiful, if unlikely, location for a company involved in cutting-edge scientific research that could have a global impact on aquaculture. It is also the base from which the firm hopes to make inroads into Norway and Chile – the largest players in the industry.

Neil Manchester is director of Landcatch Natural Selection, which, he explains, is not a normal fish-farming company:

"We like to say that we sell one thing and that is science, but we sell it in three packages: genetic services; eggs; and salmon smolts, juvenile fish."

He explains the genetic services work, undertaken at the firm's base in Alloa, is all about improving the product through breeding, which is done at Ormsary.

The purpose is to make the production of the fish that end up on supermarket shelves more cost-effective. The ultimate goal is the perfect salmon.

He says: "Salmon are a relatively new species to be farmed and the industry has only really been going for about 40 years.

"We are probably only about 10 generations from an entirely wild animal. If you look at other livestock species like cattle, sheep and pigs, they have been selectively bred for farming purposes for many thousands of generations, across more than a millennium."

He says the more progress that is made, the less controversial fish farming should become. Fish welfare and consumer safety are the watchwords.

Read the full article in Herald Scotland.

BBC News
November 7, 2012

Large numbers of free ranging salmon are being killed by parasitic sea lice in European waters every year, an international study has suggested.

The research involved the release of 280,000 tagged salmon smolts into 10 rivers in Ireland and Norway.

Sea lice were responsible for 39% of deaths among the young fish, according to the study's newly-published results.

Scientists from University of St Andrews' Scottish Oceans Institute worked on the research.

Also involved were the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago in New Zealand; Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada; Inland Fisheries in Ireland; the Institute of Marine Research in Norway; and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

The scientists said natural mortality of wild salmon during their ocean migration could be as high as 90-95%, with deaths caused by a variety of factors including sea lice.

Read the full article in BBC News. 

Read related articles:

• Phys.org; November 7, 2012; "Large numbers of salmon are killed by parasites, finds new study"
• Herald Scotland; November 7, 2012; "Farmed fish lice link to wild salmon deaths"
  
• Daily Mail; November 7, 2012; "Half of all Atlantic salmon are being killed by bloodsucking parasites, researchers claim"
  

Krkosek, M., C. Revie, P. Gargan, O. Skilbrei, B. Finstad, & C. Todd, 2012. Impact of parasites on salmon recruitment in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 280, 20122359.

Eric Staats
November 6, 2012
Naples News

When customers walk up to the seafood counter at Randy's Fish Market, they are looking for more than just dinner. Often they are looking for answers.

"They like to test us," fishmonger Ben Giles said.

The questions run the gamut from whether the fish is farm-raised or wild to whether mercury contamination is a health concern, but the questioning hardly never touches on seafood sustainability, Giles said.

Sustainability is a growing concern for many U.S. seafood consumers, but the topic is not as big a priority around most Southwest Florida dinner tables as price and origin, restaurant owners and sustainability experts say. A push is on, though, to spread the sustainability message.

"Sustainability is starting to make its way up there," said Naples-based Florida Sea Grant agent Bryan Fleuch, who recently organized a sustainable seafood workshop that attracted a handful of restaurant workers, including Giles. "We know they're a segment that interacts with the public a lot. It's a start."

Americans consumed 4.7 billion pounds of seafood in 2011, the second-largest helping of seafood in the world behind China, and more than 90 percent of it is processed overseas, Fleuch said. Half of that comes from fish farms.

As sustainability has become more of a buzz word in the industry, various industry groups have established sets of standards that must be met for both wild and farm-raised fish to be labeled as sustainable.

Read the full article in Naples News.

For a one-stop-shop for all news items and documents related to the Cohen Final Report see the SOS/WWSS "Cohen Report Tracker" . Includes the SOS / WWSS media release “Salmon Conservationists Commend Justice Cohen on his Final Report – But Will Government Listen?”  

We are providing this resource, together with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, to ensure easy access to the interpretations of the Report’s potential to effect positive change for wild salmon. 

The Cohen Final Report is the result of a $26 million inquiry involving 18 months of public hearings, 15 technical reports, and mountains of crucial and previously confidential information. 

For the sake of the wild salmon and all that depends on them, we are hopeful that the recommendations will be strong and that government will act quickly and thoroughly to implement them. 

FIS Canada
November 6, 2012

The Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) claims that salmon farming in Scotland’s Isle of Mull is being plagued by several diseases, such as amoebic gill disease, proliferative gill inflammation and chlamydia.

The organisation released this information in a report called Scottish Salmon’s Dirty Big Secret, which issued last year based on the data obtained from a dossier via Freedom of Information.

And it no states that it got a former public relations director of the salmon farming company first affected by gill diseases to blow the whistle.

“[I was] not prepared to lie to journalists about the extent of the mortalities,” stated Fiona Cameron, former director of public relations for Pan Fish and Lighthouse Caledonia during the 2007-8 disease outbreak at the Lamlash Bay site.
 
The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), Marine Harvest and Scottish Sea Farms are all seeing mass mortalities of up to 70 per cent in their farms. Marine Harvest and the SSC both reported considerable losses to shareholders and investors in their latest financial reports, and Marine Harvest predicted further losses in Q4 due to gill diseases, GAAIA stated.

Read the full article on FIS Canada.

The Coaster
October 31, 2012

The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), in its ongoing quest to promote and encourage land-based salmon farming hosted the East Coast Land-based Closed Containment Aquaculture Workshop in St. Andrews, New Brunswick on October 10 and 11.

Bill Taylor, the president of the ASF, said that industry representatives from North America and Europe attended the workshop. In addition, provincial and federal government officials from Canada, state and federal government representatives from the United Sates and environmentalists from Canada, the United States and Europe also participated in the conference.

Taylor said, “We drew some of the best and most experienced speakers, scientists, researchers and aquaculture folks that are familiar with this relatively new technology.

“We wanted to share positive experiences and begin to, hopefully, see a transition from current open-net pen aquaculture, with all of its inherent problems, to the much more environmentally sustainable friendly land-based close containment systems for raising salmon.”

Read the full article in The Coaster.

CBC News
October 31, 2012

The New Brunswick government is proposing changes to the province's Aquaculture Act that would require companies to report on their sea lice treatment and monitoring programs.

Under the draft regulation, companies would have to submit a report each week showing whether a sea lice treatment is planned, where the site is located and what pesticide will be used.

The proposed amendments would also regulate how and when sea lice counts are done, including reporting the number of cages and fish sampled, as well as the life stage of the lice.

There are no formal sea lice rules currently in place for the aquaculture industry, which brings in hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the provincial economy and accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the workforce in Charlotte County.

Read the full story on CBC News.

Mark Hume
October 26, 2012
Globe and Mail

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is considering significant cuts to the ranks of the workers who protect fish habitat on the Pacific Coast, according to internal federal documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

These biologists are the front-line protectors of the province’s salmon resource. They study the fish for signs they are suffering from disease, pollution or overfishing and monitor their habitats.

The cutbacks come as the federal public service struggles to implement the government’s deficit-fighting austerity program, which is forcing managers to rethink long-established programs in an attempt to do more with less.

In the department of Fisheries and Oceans, employees have been told that “a national staffing process” – which will lead to staff reductions and office closings – will begin on Nov. 16 and is to be fully operational by January.

While the nationwide details aren’t yet clear, a Pacific region organization chart for DFO approved on Oct. 19 by deputy minister Claire Dansereau shows the fisheries protection branch in British Columbia will be reduced to 60 positions from 90.

DFO wasn’t able to provide an official to comment on the leaked material on Thursday, and a media spokesperson said the department needed more time to respond to questions about staff reductions.

But environmentalists say the cuts are staggering because they go to the front line, where fisheries biologists who protect the environment are being removed from the field.

Read the full article in the Globe and Mail.

KUHF FM News
October 23, 2012

A South African entrepreneur has found a way to make food out of flies for farm-raised chicken and salmon. He says fly meal can replace fish meal for aquaculture and some livestock, and help conserve wild fisheries that are now being depleted in the race to find enough protein for the planet.

A common house fly could help fish stay in the sea.

What's the lowly house fly got to do with the $60 billion fish farming industry?

Quite a lot, says Jason Drew, a jet-setting British entrepreneur who is so enthusiastic about the potential of flies, he's just written a book called The Story of the Fly and How It Could Save the World. He thinks flies can solve one of aquaculture's most vexing issues: what to feed the growing ranks of farmed fish.

Farm-raised salmon, trout and shrimp need a lot of animal protein in their diet. Right now, that protein comes mainly from small, wild fish that are turned into fish meal. It takes about 3 pounds of fish to produce 1 pound of farmed salmon, and as we continue to deplete wild fish stocks, fisheries experts say we're going to run out.

And so aquaculture experts all over the world are scrambling to figure out what to do about it.

A few years back, Drew was checking out some farms in Saudi Arabia that were exporting chicken and shrimp to South Africa, where he lives. He saw all the fish meal going to feed those creatures, and got to thinking just how unsustainable it was.

He also noticed, he says, that "the price of fish meal was moving in one direction only: up. Unless we find a new sea."

At a slaughterhouse in Saudi Arabia, he stumbled upon what could become the new sea: a huge pond of blood, buzzing with flies. After consulting with some scientists, Drew became convinced that flies could recycle the protein in animal blood and replace fish meal to feed fish, chicken and other animals.

He was so convinced, he founded a company to give it a shot. In 2009, his company, AgriProtein, purchased its first batch of flies to breed for industrial production. After a couple of years of tinkering, his team figured out how to produce protein-rich larvae in bulk. It helps that one fly can lay up to 1,000 eggs, and 1 pound of eggs can grow into 380 pounds of larvae.
The fly larvae in the AgriProtein factory feed on cow blood and bran.

Today Drew has a fly factory up and running near Cape Town and is selling his Magmeal, a brown crumbly protein meal made of maggots, or fly larvae, to South African salmon and chicken farms. By next year, he says his factory will be producing 100 tons of fly meal a day. "That's 100 tons we don't have to take out of the sea," he says. "And we can't keep up with demand."

At one end of the factory the mother flies lay their eggs. Members of Drew's staff extract the eggs, but save a small number of them to put back into the breeding stock. They take the remaining eggs and hatch them into larvae, where they're fed a rich meal of blood from a nearby slaughterhouse, plus bran. After two or three days, they're the perfect size for harvesting and are ground into Magmeal.

Drew says it's only a matter of time before more entrepreneurs around the world discover fly farming.

Read the full article on KUHF FM News.

Judith Lavoie
October 18, 2012
Times Colonist

A Vancouver Island First Nation is considering a lawsuit to stop a new salmon farm site in Clayoquot Sound.

Federal and provincial approvals given to Mainstream Canada for a new site at Plover Point on Meares Island have also opened up a territorial dispute between Ahousaht First Nation, which is working in partnership with Mainstream, and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, which vehemently objects to the farm.

"This is actually a shared area between Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht. There's an overlapping issue," said Tla-o-qui-aht councillor Terry Dorward.

Ahousaht Chief John Frank could not be reached on Tuesday.

An emergency meeting with Ahousaht is planned and Tla-o-qui-aht is "investigating legal options" to stop the Plover Point farm, Dorward said.

"Fish disease outbreaks and pollution could devastate our already stressed salmon runs and shellfish sites near the Plover Point site," he said.

"We will not allow governments and industry to run roughshod over our rights to clean water and sustainable fisheries."

There must be independent studies on infectious diseases before any more fish farms are considered in Clayoquot Sound, he said - "especially in an area that's under dispute."

Earlier this year, Mainstream destroyed all fish at its Millar Channel farm in Clayoquot Sound after confirmation of infectious haematopoetic necrosis virus, which can kill Atlantic salmon - the variety raised in fish farms - but is endemic among Pacific populations.

Read the full story in the Times Colonist.

Read related stories:

• Watershed Sentinel; October 15, 2012; "Tla-o-qui-aht FN threatens Legal or Direct Action Against New Fish Farm in Clayoquot Sound"
  
• Fish News EU; October 12, 2012; "Clayoquot decision deemed unsound"
  
• Westerly News; July 26, 2012; "Fish farming continues as contentious issue in Clayoquot"
  
• Epoch Times; July 18, 2012; "Another Fish Farm Not Wanted in Clayoquot Sound, Says Group"
  

Chronicle Herald
October 15, 2012

An independent marine biologist says Nova Scotia’s coastline is slated to become a dump site for the aquaculture industry.

Alexandra Morton, who has spent 20 years studying the impact of fish farming on wild marine species in British Columbia, is warning that Nova Scotia’s fisheries are in peril.

“There is a tremendous conflict between fish farms and the lobster industry here,” Morton said in an interview Sunday from Freeport, a fishing village at the end of Digby Neck on Long Island.

“Fishermen here feel like aquaculture is destroying their way of life.”

Morton will give the fifth annual Ransom A. Myers Lecture in Science and Society at Dalhousie University in Halifax on Friday.

A renowned marine biologist and conservationist, Myers was passionate about halting the deleterious effects of overfishing on the ocean’s fish stocks, especially Atlantic cod.

Morton has picked up the mantle of defending wild marine species, but it is aquaculture, not overfishing, that she sees as the threat.

She arrived in Nova Scotia a week before her lecture to learn first-hand how fish farming is affecting communities in the province.

Her concerns with the aquaculture industry include fish fecal waste accumulating beneath the cages, excess fish feed, chemicals, sea lice and viruses.

“Not only does the industry pollute the shorelines, but it threatens lobster grounds,” Morton said.

She said some of the drugs used to treat sea lice can be harmful to shelled marine species such as prawns on the West Coast or lobsters in Atlantic Canada.

Read the full article in the Chronicle Herald.

Fish Farmer Magazine
October 15, 2012

The public consultation period officially begins today (Monday 15th October 2012) in the licence application process for a deep sea fish farm in outer Galway Bay.

The consultation period will run for eight weeks, during which time any member of the public may make observations or comments to the Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D.  The closing date for submissions to the Minister is midnight on the 12th of December 2012.

Read the full article in Fish Farmer Magazine.

The Scotsman
October 13, 2012

The spread of disease in fish farms across the Western Isles has resulted in hundreds of tonnes of salmon being killed, fishermen have warned.

Read the original article in The Scotsman.

Read related stories:

• Hebrides News; October 12, 2012; "Vast numbers of salmon dying from major disease outbreak"
  
• STV News; October 11, 2012; "Fishermen in Western Isles losing up to 20% of stock as disease spreads"
  

BBC News
October 9, 2012

Farmed ballan wrasse have been introduced to a Scottish salmon farm for the first time.

They were transferred to a farm run by The Scottish Salmon Company (SCC) in the Western Isles.

It is hoped they will help minimise the impact of sea lice - a naturally-occurring parasite that attaches itself to both farmed and wild salmon.

SCC worked with Viking Fish Farms at Ardtoe in Argyll to develop the first commercial production of ballan wrasse.

It follows four years of research and development aimed at finding a natural method of tackling the problem of sea lice.

SCC said it saw the wrasse as effective "cleaner-fish" which offered a natural biological means to control the parasite.

Scottish Salmon Company technical manager Dale Hill said: "We recognise the significant potential for wrasse to play a part in the management of sea lice populations within our marine production facilities.

"However, the capture and use of wild wrasse is not sustainable and farmed wrasse has the advantage of being certified as disease free.

"One additional benefit afforded by the work undertaken with Viking Fish Farms is to build on the knowledge provided by the wrasse farming technology."

He added: "This will assist in improving the cost basis for this method of sea lice control and therefore extend its use and uptake for sea lice management within our Industry."

Read the full article on BBC News.

Read additional story:

• Fish Farmer; October 8, 2012; "Groundbreaking Development as Scottish Salmon Company Transfers First Farmed Ballan Wrasse to Marine Sites"
  

FIS
October 4, 2012

The Canadian Government will invest in 11 British Columbia (BC) companies to encourage sustainable and innovative aquaculture projects in that province.

“The aquaculture industry is evolving worldwide,” said Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. “The funding announced today will ensure that Canada’s aquaculture industry continues to remain globally competitive, while enhancing economic prospects for Canadians.”

This investment of CAD 1.25 million (USD 1.27 million) will support three finfish and eight shellfish aquaculture projects in BC. The projects will improve the competitiveness of the Canadian aquaculture industry and encourage the development of innovative technologies and management techniques.

Recipients of the funding include: Bees Islets Growers, Island Scallops Limited, Island Sea Farms, Nova Harvest Limited, Nootka Sound Shellfish, Aphrodite’s Garden, Mac’s Oysters, BC Shellfish Growers Association, Sable Fish Canada, BC Salmon Farmers Association and Taste of BC.

“The Harper Government is committed to supporting the sustainable development of Canada’s aquaculture industry, based on the best science available and within one of the most rigorous regulatory systems in the world,” said Minister Ashfield.

British Columbia’s aquaculture industry creates close to 6,000 jobs, resulting in CAD 224 million (USD 22.8 million) in annual wages.  About 740 aquaculture operations in BC produce salmon, other finfish and shellfish year-round, with a total harvested value of nearly CAD 534 million (USD 543.5 million).

Read the original article on FIS.

Read related story:

• The Fish Site; October 5, 2012; "Funding Advances Important Reporting Work by BC's Salmon Farmers"

BBC News
October 4, 2012

Scotland's fish farming industry could face stricter regulation through new legislation.

Holyrood's Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse believed the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill would support farms and protect fish stocks.

Plans include tougher sanctions on fish farmers and increased scrutiny by environment agency Sepa.

The bill will now start its passage through the Scottish Parliament and is likely to become law next year.

There have been concerns for some time that lochs and rivers were being polluted by salmon farms.

A report this year published by the Salmon and Trout Association claimed juvenile sea lice from fish farms had been found on wild salmon and sea trout.

It also stated that nearly 13% of sea-bed residue samples from fish farms were higher than the environmental standard allowed.

The Scottish government hopes the bill will ensure that both wild and farmed fish continue to be managed properly without harming fishing on the country's rivers and lochs.

Read the full article on BBC News.

Read related story:

• Fish Update; October 4, 2012; "Aquaculture and Fisheries"
  

CTV News
October 2, 2012

Developers of a small Canadian website that has allowed consumers to trace hundreds of thousands of fish back to those who caught them are gearing up for a global presence.

Ecotrust Canada is in talks with east-coast mussel farmers and west-coast Dungeness crab fishermen to add their products to the online traceability program offered by the website thisfish.info, says Tasha Sutcliffe, vice-president of the non-profit organization and director of its fisheries program.

Sutcliffe said her organization has also met with interested non-governmental organizations, fishermen and restaurants in Australia and has received inquiries from Portugal, Costa Rica and the U.S.

Already, the website, which launched in 2010, allows consumers to trace 16 different fisheries back to hundreds of Canadian fishermen employed on both coasts, she says.

"With the seafood industry, you know, some people care very much about the sustainability of their catch," she said. "They want to know that it's caught from a sustainable fishery, how it's caught, perhaps even if they're interested enough ... in the stock status."

The program requires the participation of every agency in the distribution chain, from the fishermen to the consumer. Fishermen assign a code to their catch and upload that information to the website, including details about where, when and how the fish were caught.

The code then follows the fish as they move through the processing and distribution chain.

To learn about their fish, consumers just enter the code into the website.

So far, consumers have traced more than 362,500 fish.

Read the full article on CTV News.

FIS
October 1, 2012

SweetSpring is a new standard of salmon production based on breeding and cultivation techniques perfected over more than 30 years.

The company’s eco-farming methods break from traditional salmon production in two key ways. First, containment, which is related to escape, disease and contamination. SweetSpring raises salmon in a land-locked, closed system creating a bio-secure environment that is no threat to wild salmon stocks.

Eco-farmed Sweetspring’s freshwater Pacific Coho is listed as Super Green by the internationally recognized Seafood Watch Program

The other difference is habitat: SweetSpring fish live their entire lives in freshwater while net-pen salmon grow out in saltwater.

Because SweetSpring can fine-tune water quality, dangerous contaminants, such as mercury and PCBs, are eliminated and the possibility of disease greatly diminished.

Eco-farmed Sweetspring’s freshwater Pacific Coho and wild-caught Alaska are the only salmon listed as Super-Green by internationally recognized Seafood Watch Program. No other salmon is considered sustainable by Seafood Watch. Wild-caught Washington salmon is classified as a “Good Alternative”.

After years of development, the company is ready to begin expanding production to raise and deliver a sustainable, reliable supply of healthful Pacific salmon year-round.

Read the full article on FIS.