On-Land Fish Farm Movement

From Bill Bryden in Atlantic Canada:

Premier Ministers, MHAs, and Respected Others;

Premier, how many examples of the stories below do we need to see before government start the shift to closed containment land based finfish aquaculture? We need not privatize and give away our pristine bays to polluters and disease spreaders for 1/10,000th of what Norway charges with far more constricting environmental regulations than we have in NL. We are LAST again. You can change this.

"Speaking with Undercurrent News on the sidelines of the event, Bjorgo said farms with pancreas disease (PD) still cannot sell into the country. 

“Then, farmers in three counties in Norway – South Trondelag, Nordland and Troms – were suspended from China over claims of suspected ISA [infectious salmon anemia] infected fish in 2015. They still cannot sell.”

According to other sources, Norwegian farmers from other regions are also still having issues selling to China, even if they have no issues with PD or ISA. 

Bjorgo added the next visit by Chinese authorities to Norway won’t happen until next year. 

Merete Kristiansen, sales director of Nordlaks, Norway's largest privately owned salmon farmer, told Undercurrent she was “surprised” by the delays. Nordlaks operates in Nordland, so is totally blocked from selling to China.  " from: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/11/01/norwegian-salmon-still-up-against-china-trade-obstacles/

Meanwhile, land based salmon farming continues to grow in China with yet another totally land based facility being built: " Norwegian company Seafood Dragon, owned by Ove Nodland, is set to start building its €72 million ($85 million) land-based facility in Ningbo, outside Shanghai, in Spring 2018. Initially, investors Johannes Neteland and Ove Nodland were planning for a plant with a capacity of 3,000 metric tons a year, they now will produce 6,000mt ..."

 http://www.intrafish.com/aquaculture/1399188/norwegian-firm-building-euro-72-million-land-based-salmon-farm-in-china.

 My response is this:

Let me add that my post on the on-land fish farm systems I have found around the world, now exceeds 200 fish farm systems, comprising almost 20,000 actual on-land farms: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html. When is enough enough for governments to realize that on-land is the only way forward for fish farms.

In-ocean is a dying breed because of its environmental damage turning consumers off. With the Florida, Atlantic Sapphire plant coming on stream with a harvest of 90,000 mt, sales to the USA from Canada will dwindle. With the new Seafood Dragon plant in China, Asian sales are in peril. With the oil-platform style with full sewage treatment, and electricity production, off shore, closed, RAS farms can be towed to service any market in the world.

California, Oregon and Alaska forbid fish farms. Washington State is bringing forth legislation to ban fish farms in that state. The aboriginal occupation in BC, is also a potent route for change. In BC, Sooke and Victoria have banned fish farms, and Victoria is carrying forth a motion to the united municipalities in the new year for all BC cities to nix in-ocean fish farms. Tortel in Chile has done the same. Finland does not allow fish farms, and Denmark has 50% of its industry on land.

Marine Harvest is putting $100 million into closed containment, Cermaq has the slightly shakier ‘flexifarm’ and Norway is now only entertaining new closed technology for in-ocean, while leaving on land licences at zero.

It is time to close the door on in-ocean degradation.