{"id":81593,"date":"2021-07-19T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resourcework2.devstudio.work\/?p=81593"},"modified":"2024-11-11T14:58:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T14:58:35","slug":"transition-salmon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resourcework2.devstudio.work\/?p=81593","title":{"rendered":"BC salmon farms: What\u2019s next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The arbitrary decision by Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan to close 19 salmon farms in BC\u2019s Discovery Islands area has taken another knock, with the release of new scientific research results.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last December, the Minister either ignored or discounted nine existing peer-reviewed studies<\/a> that showed the salmon farms in question had only minimal impact on wild stocks migrating through Discovery Islands waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now comes a tenth research study<\/a>, reporting that tests with piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) resulted in no deaths or impact on fish health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business in Vancouver<\/em> told readers: \u201cWhile some studies have linked PRV to various diseases in salmon, like heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI), others have concluded the virus \u2013 or at least the strain found in BC \u2013 is benign”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of BC, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of the salmon infected with PRV died. Researchers found \u2018no physiological differences between PRV-infected fish and a control group, injected with a salt solution.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan is now actively pursuing a 2025 plan to transition away from open net-pen salmon farms in Pacific coastal waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don’t yet know whether that means \u201cclosed containment\u201d farms in ocean waters or land-based aquaculture. Neither is seen as a great bet by the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have many fans in green circles, but their rose-tinted claims raise some questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take, for example, two points from an oft-quoted guest column in<\/a> The Vancouver Sun<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claim #1: Land-based salmon farming does not impact the environment.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The column cited a pioneer land-based BC salmon farm, Kuterra, \u201ca pilot project that proved to the world that salmon could be raised to market size in land-based systems that do not impact the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a study from The Freshwater Institute<\/a> in the US (an environmental NGO, by the way) found that fresh salmon produced in the US by RAS (assuming 90% of the power comes from hydroelectricity) would produce 3.27kg of CO2e per kilogram of salmon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there is<\/em> some impact on the environment, although the availability of clean hydropower in BC could be a plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Claim #2:\u00a0\u201cThe future growth of this industry will be on land, and it appears that, worldwide, the smart money knows this.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

True, if you listen to Atlantic Sapphire<\/a>, a Norwegian company with a huge and growing RAS salmon farm in Florida. And true if you heed Brian Vinci<\/a>, director of the Freshwater Institute, who describes land-based RAS aquaculture as \u201ctechnically, biologically, and hopefully, economically feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But economic feasibility is a huge question mark, as raised in a 2020 federal government study<\/a> by Fisheries and Oceans Canada:<\/p>\n\n\n\n