The Future of On-land Fish Farms is Now, Updated Mar 9, 2017

Hi Justin/Dominic/Elizabeth/Finn/Todd/Chek/CBC/Van Sun/et al:

The fish farm industry has just been changed completely, and on-land farms are the future. There is no looking back, and BC and Atlantic farms need to come out of the water asap, to avoid being left behind.

Atlantic Sapphire is building a 90,000 tonne on-land fish farm in Florida: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/03/03/atlantic-sapphire-thinks-big-after-approval-for-florida-salmon-farm/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=977f05fcef-Americas_briefing_Mar_03_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-977f05fcef-92426209.

This gives the Norwegian firm a strangle hold on the NA continental market, and the ailing BC market is in deep trouble. The one Atlantic Sapphire on-land farm will be larger than the entire BC industry of 85,000 tonnes annual product. And BC, like Chile, has already been hit hard in the USA market. The USA rescinded a 26% tariff on Norwegian salmon two years ago, giving Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood in Norway a huge competitive margin against their own operations in Canada and Chile.

Add Atlantic Sapphire on top of the current situation and BC is toast, as 85% of its product goes into the USA because Canadians will not buy in-ocean farmed salmon. Lots of jobs are going to be lost in Canada until fish farms are on-land and thus competitive in the USA.

I have pointed out previously that in-ocean fish farms make no environmental or economic sense. You can find numerous posts on my: www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com that detail the figures.

You need to wake up and take action or watch the Canadian industry go down the tubes. In BC you are struggling badly because of your Kinder Morgan decision. You can get an offsetting lift by getting fish farms out of the water of wild Pacific salmon, which are as important to BC as French is to Quebec:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-residents-consider-salmon-a-cultural-touchstone-survey-finds/article1998476. 

Even your own BC MPs voted against party lines on Fin Donnelly’s Bill C-228, that would have gotten fish farms out of the water and put on land. 70% of BC Liberals voted against you. They know they will never be re-elected if they do not stand with wild Pacific salmon.

My list of on-land fish farms is now 175 different on-land systems, comprising almost 20,000 actual on-land fish farms around the world. Denmark has 50% of its fish farms on land; Finland has 100% on land, and forbids them in its ocean. Here is the list: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.

You need to take action.

DC (Dennis) Reid

Update Mar 9, 2017:

Global Fish Farm Newsletters brings the news, that on-land, RAS to reach 150,000 mt by 2020:  https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/03/09/dnb-estimates-ras-farming-will-produce-150000t-by-2020/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=5396d44906-Americas_briefing_Mar_09_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-5396d44906-92426209. This is twice the size of the BC industry, in three years.