Jobs and Revenue? - Hasta La Vista Fish Farms, Updated Dec 31, 2019

Hi Drew Cherry [from Intrafish, news outlet]:

On your article: https://www.intrafish.com/commentary/will-salmon-farmers-abandon-british-columbia-/2-1-727477?utm_source=IntraFish%20Salmon%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=9db4d3f04c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_25_07_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c825a4a64-9db4d3f04c-245113141, a few comments.

See my post on the BC Stats Report:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html.

Fish farms promise politicians jobs and revenue and they don’t hear anything else and put them in the ocean. Right now, the biggest fight is in NL. BC is beyond that fight. The main reason is that BC residents value wild salmon at the same rate – 75% - that Quebec values French. And, we have 99.8% of all the wild salmon in Canada.

I used to write reports like the BC Stats one when I worked for government, so my comments are sound.

And you make the following jobs and revenue comment: “According to the BC Salmon Farmers Association, the industry accounts for CDN$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion/€1 billion) in revenue and 7,000 jobs, many on Vancouver Island, where employment can be scarce. In addition, many of the jobs are held by people of First Nations descent.”

On revenue: BC Stats says: $777.3M, only 50% of the fish farmers’ claim. And, given that contribution to GDP is only $194.4M, that means only 25% is ‘invested’ in BC. 75% of the money goes back to Norway, to shareholders.

On jobs: BC Stats says only 1800 jobs, or only 25.7% of the fish farmers’ claim – and job numbers have been declining for the past 20 years. Furthermore, I have determined that the actual job number is only 825, and if 20% (the industry claim) are Indigenous, that means only 165 jobs. All three numbers are peanuts. And, on the other side is a solid, deep-seated desire to save wild salmon, that BC residents see DFO/Ottawa having managed into extinction for the past 50 years.

And the Milewski article at the bottom points out that fish farm employment in Atlantic Canada has dropped 32% over a recent past decade. Furthermore, as jobs have dropped 80% in Norway, due to automation, it can be inferred that the same will happen in Canada when the automation is brought here. That means, in BC, that employment will drop to 360 jobs in the entire industry. Who bases economic figures on such a small number of jobs? No one.

As well, fish farms are in trouble in BC because 85% of their market of 85,000mt is to the USA, and the USA is moving to vastly out size the BC industry in on-land farms. Atlantic Sapphire has growth plans to 160,000mt, and then higher, along with Whole Oceans, Nordic Aquafarms, Aquabanc and many others.

Here is a short list of on-land projects by another news outlet: https://salmonbusiness.com/these-are-the-leading-land-based-salmon-farms-in-the-world-right-now/.

My list is far longer, exceeding 300 on-land fish farms around the world: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.

In ocean in BC is toast. The jobs and revenue numbers do not work. And we haven’t yet talked about algae, sewage, disease, lice, wild salmon, the list goes on…

And the tax to the BC govt is so low it is not a compelling argument.

DC (Dennis) Reid

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And, Whole Oceans listed above has just made a deal with the on-land, Indigenous in BC to run Kuterra for 15 years: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/12/20/canadian-ras-company-kuterra-signs-15-year-deal-to-produce-salmon-for-whole-oceans-parent/. Note that Emergent Holdings owns Whole Oceans.

And, Vancouver island is almost triple the size of Wales where Intrafish is from, the UK, so employment is far more secure than fish farms would have Don Cherry believe, who is not from BC, or even Canada.