Fish Farms an Essential Service - in BC? I Think Not

According to Salmon Business news outlet, Mike Farnworth and John Horgan, in the background, have just declared fish farms an essential service in BC.

You have to be kidding. What happened to your putting them on land, your promises to the BC public that that is where they are heading? We sure don't want you giving them any of our tax money, for what Daniel Pauly calls: 'floating pig farms.'

Here are some of the downsides that can be avoided by keeping your promises, and putting them on land:

Wild Salmon are as Important to BC as French is to Quebec. And we hate in-ocean fish farms. We want them on land.

See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-residents-consider-salmon-a-cultural-touchstone-survey-finds/article1998476.

Huge Sewage Cost: $10.4B to $31.2B. Yes, that is billions. They put out more sewage than all the people in BC. And these two figures are the conservative end of the estimates. The point is that they will never bring in enough money to offset this free rider problem, as economists call it.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/03/calculation-for-sewage-from-salmon-farms.html.

Jobs are low. The industry does not deserve the attention it gets: Your own BC Stats put employment at 1800. And actual in 2016, I calculated at 825. It really is that low, and the revenue of only $775M goes back to Norway to shareholders. Employment has actually dropped 5.3% over the last twenty years. And Milewski shows that jobs will drop 80% when Mowi et al bring their automation from Norway to BC.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html.

Lost Licence revenue, is billions of dollars, too. Your licence cost is only $5000 compared with the $32- to $40-M per licence in Norway because they hate the biological degradation of in-ocean. An-onland licence is free. BC's loss right now is $3.8- to 4.8-B. That's how bad it is.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/08/increase-license-fees-to-32-to-40.html.

Fish Farms Kill Billions of Forage Fish: 5.76 Billion per crop in BC. They should feed third world human mouths instead.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/09/fish-farms-kill-billions-of-forage-fish.html. 

The world is moving to on-land. For years. Time to wake up in there. My Good News post on On-land is now at 350 articles/bank analysis/global fish farm news in the past year alone.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html.

Finally, BC In-ocean Will Be Wiped Out - on-land is taking over the US, which is 85% of the BC market. Only one farm, Atlantic Sapphire in Florida will produce more than twice the BC output and flood the US with fish people want to eat. Not environmentally damaging ones.

Mike. John. Time to wake up and get with the program: Put fish farms on land. They can join the  310 on-land fish farms that I have found globally.

See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.

Send an email:

John Horgan: premier@gov.bc.ca
Mike Farnworth: mike.farnworth.mla@leg.bc.ca

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Here is another one on lack of jobs: 334. Jobs, Economic Effects Hugely Over-estimated: Scotland, report:  https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2020/04/27/scottish-govt-urged-to-rethink-support-for-increased-salmon-farm-production/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=57d8b85f80-Europe_briefing_Apr_27_2020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-57d8b85f80-92426209.