Global salmon farm company with B.C. ties backs land-based aquaculture in Japan

The backing of a land-based salmon farm in Japan by a worldwide firm with ties to ocean fish farms in British Columbia has Indigenous and conservation teams calling on the federal authorities to speed up its transition away from open-net farms.

The worldwide tide in aquaculture is shifting towards land-based salmon farms, and the earlier Canada will get on board the higher for the safety of threatened wild salmon and the way forward for aquaculture in B.C., say representatives of the 120-member B.C. First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance and non-profit group Wild Salmon Forever/Wild First.

“Canada really has to decide at this point if it wants wild Pacific salmon or if it wants this dirty, harmful industry. It can’t have both,” Tony Allard, founding father of Wild Salmon Forever/Wild First, stated in an interview. “That’s how I see it. It’s hard to talk your way out of it.”

Open-net fish farms off B.C.’s coast are a flashpoint, with environmental teams and a few Indigenous nations saying the farms switch illness to wild salmon, whereas the trade and a few native politicians say hundreds of jobs are threatened if operations are phased out.

Earlier this month, federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray introduced plans to increase a session interval for a transition plan to shift away from open-net salmon farms in B.C. by 2025.

Murray introduced final February the federal government wouldn’t renew licences for 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms round B.C.’s Discovery Islands.

This month, she stated consultations for 79 different open-net farms will now proceed by way of the summer time, with a transition plan resolution coming at an unannounced date.

“They must also realize that this is where the industry’s going,” Bob Chamberlin, First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance spokesman, stated in an interview. “No one logs like they used to. No one mines like they used to. Everything evolves and it’s time for this industry to do the same.”

He stated when he visited Norway greater than a decade in the past, salmon farm trade officers there stated they function open-net fish farms in B.C. as a result of they’re permitted by the federal government.

“That was the last time I went to Norway to speak to them,” he stated. “I realized that the fight was at home.”

Chamberlin stated he is now extra satisfied than ever about having salmon farms faraway from B.C. waters after studying concerning the land-based undertaking close to Tokyo being constructed with monetary backing from the Norwegian firm, Grieg Group, which has funding ties to Grieg Seafood of Campbell River.

Grieg Seafood operates a fish hatchery, 22 ocean salmon farms and employs about 200 individuals in B.C.

Amy Jonsson, Grieg Seafood communications director, stated in a press release that Grieg Seafood of Campbell River didn’t spend money on the Norwegian-based Proximar Seafood land-based salmon farm undertaking in Japan.

She stated Grieg Group of Norway is Greig Seafood’s foremost investor and a Proximar Seafood shareholder.

A Proximar Seafood spokesman couldn’t be reached for remark concerning the estimated $88 million land-based salmon farm undertaking, however the firm’s web site stated the farm is situated about an hour’s drive from Tokyo close to Mount Fuji and can produce as much as 5,300 tonnes of farmed Atlantic salmon yearly.

Jonsson stated transitioning the trade from open-net farms to land-based stays difficult on a number of fronts, technically and financially.

“To farm the entire production cycle on land has not yet been proven viable at a commercial scale,” she stated within the assertion. “Developing the technology and competence is the first challenge that needs to be solved.”

Jonsson additionally stated as soon as land-based know-how does change into viable, amenities will doubtless be situated nearer to their markets, which may end in job losses in rural communities.

The B.C. Salmon Farmer’s Association, which represents about 95 per cent of the province’s fish farm producers, stated an financial evaluation commissioned by the provincial authorities concluded shifting to land-based salmon farming may price as much as $2.2 billion, and manufacturing and revenue of the product was elusive.

“To move the entire sector on land isn’t a realistic option, nor is it required to protect wild salmon,” stated affiliation president Brian Kingzett in a press release final February. “The federal government’s numerous science assessments have confirmed Atlantic salmon farms pose no more than a minimal risk to wild salmon abundance and diversity under the current fish health management practices.”

Kingzett was not out there for additional remark.

Allard, who operates a non-public funding firm in West Vancouver, stated he helps salmon farming, however not open-net ocean farms.

“I’m a capitalist,” he stated. “I can see there’s a need there and a business there, but you can’t base your business on polluting for free and harming an iconic keystone species. The longer we dither on embracing what’s now proven technology and play to our advantages, the more we’re likely to squander our first-mover advantage on the Pacific coast.”

An announcement from Murray’s workplace at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, stated “Canada can be a global leader in sustainable aquaculture, while also making sure we protect keystone species like wild Pacific salmon.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 15, 2023.