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Global Look at Closed Containment Systems Shows Technology is Thriving
The final recommendations of the BC Legislature’s Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture (SCSA) turned one year old in June. The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) marked the occasion by releasing a new report that shows a shift from open to closed-system fish farming is not only a viable alternative to open net-cage farming, it is a vibrant and rapidly developing global industry.
 Had the key SCSA recommendation of a rapid transition to closed-system fish farms been implemented last year, BC businesses may have featured more prominently in the new report. Instead, the Province continues to support the expansion of net-pen salmon farming on BC’s South Coast and we are being left behind in the push towards more sustainable aquaculture.
The Global Assessment of Closed System Aquaculture report looks at diverse forms of closed-containment aquaculture being used and developed around the world to raise numerous types of seafood, including salmon. Closed-system aquaculture separates the farmed fish from the environment and allows control of input and output, eliminating damage to ecosystems and wild stocks.
“These technologies also offer tremendous economic opportunities, both in research and development and in operations,” said Ruby Berry of the Georgia Strait Alliance. “With the increasing demand around the world for seafood, along with growing environmental concern from consumers, the benefits to companies that embrace these new technologies are significant.”
Read the summary brochure or download the full report.
Tell the BC government you’d like to see them join this global shift towards more sustainable aquaculture. Send a fax requesting that they establish a $10 million Closed System Aquaculture Development and Innovation Fund.
Safeway Urged to ‘Think Pink’ and Protect Wild Salmon
The beauty and importance of the Pacific coast and the marine life that makes this area home is difficult to convey to executives in foreign boardrooms. In the lead up to Safeway’s Board of Directors meeting in May, the Farmed and Dangerous campaign took a new approach– delivering a message that could be tied with a bow.
 Gift baskets were sent to board members to remind them that when Safeway buys BC farmed salmon it is killing our wild pink salmon. The Safeway board members were invited to ‘think pink’ and protect wild pink salmon from local extinction.
The gift basket showcased the November 2007 issue of Science with the study on how wild pink salmon in BC's Broughton Archipelago will be driven to extinction within four years if sea lice outbreaks on salmon farms continue. The gift basket also included a photo book portraying the magnificence of the Pacific coast and the impact lethal sea lice from salmon farms are having on the ecosystem. In addition, Safeway board members were provided with ‘enjoy now, before it’s gone forever’ wild pink smoked salmon and a stylish ‘dinner for two or dinner for sea lice?’ apron.
Marine Harvest Canada, a main supplier of farmed salmon to Safeway, has agreed to complete collaborative research with CAAR on sea lice and on closed containment. We hope that by encouraging Safeway’s board to ‘think pink’, the Pacific coast-based supermarket giant will lead the way by demanding more sustainable farmed salmon from closed containment facilities.
BC to Norway – You Are Destroying Our Fish, Our Ecosystem and Our Livelihoods
CAAR representative David Lane, Executive Director of the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, recently traveled to Norway to present a resolution to the board and shareholders of Norwegian-owned Cermaq. Cermaq, via its Mainstream Canada operations, is the second largest salmon farming company in BC and the government of Norway is the controlling shareholder with 43.5% of shares.
CAAR’s resolution requested that Mainstream Canada Operations fully comply with Norwegian state policies on sustainability for state corporations. Norwegian state policy on government-controlled companies demands that negative impacts on the external environment be minimized. Cermaq’s BC operations, which have been in the news repeatedly for sea lice problems, escapes and marine mammal kills, are openly breaking this policy.
“It’s outrageous that the Norwegian government professes to run sustainable state-owned companies, yet their salmon farms in BC are causing serious environmental harm and operate in a manner that would not be allowed in Norway,” said David Lane. “The Norwegian government must take immediate action to ensure Mainstream Canada stops harming the BC environment and putting BC wild salmon runs in jeopardy.”
Lane talked directly to the CEO and the Chair of the Board of Directors of Cermaq asking for a direct dialogue in BC about environmental impacts and solutions for Mainstream farms. One clear result is that the Cermaq Board of Directors will travel to BC in August to see for themselves how Mainstream is operating their farms.
Lane and fellow Canadian, Brian Gunn of the Wilderness Tourism Association, also met with staff at the three government ministries involved in overseeing salmon farming: the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Trade and Industry. There were also meetings with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, MPs from the ruling coalition government and the Canadian Embassy. The Norway trip was organized by the Pure Salmon Campaign under the leadership of Don Staniford and Bart Naylor.
Video Plea
To help show Cermaq’s shareholders the urgency of the situation, filmmaker Twyla Roscovich produced a short film with the assistance of the Pure Salmon Campaign. The film features the impacts of open net-cages on BC marine life, the scientists documenting the ecosystem decline as well as the local businesses and First Nations who are losing their livelihoods as a result.
Watch the two-part video, "A Message for Cermaq"
CAAR Launches New Website!
Like our new look? Check out our new website! Click on any of the links below, or go to www.FarmedandDangerous.org.
The new FAD website has been updated with information on the environmental, health and economic impacts of salmon farming. We have a new image library to browse through along with new section detailing the scientific case against open net cage salmon farms. Be sure and check out the solutions CAAR is working on, and the many ways you can make a difference for wild salmon today!
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