BC Fish Farms Should Come to Land - BC Salmon Farmers Association - John Paul Fraser

Hi John Paul Fraser

I am writing to suggest that the Association seriously consider moving onto land in BC, rather than staying in the water.

As you know, Minister Jordan closed the Discovery Island fish farms last week. More closures are promised.

This is because of the overwhelming negative perception of in-ocean fish farms. CHEK did a poll the other day that showed 81% of BC residents want fish farms out of the water.

My understanding is that about 85% of BC’s output of 85,000MT is sold in the USA.

What you may not know is that the on-land US industry is growing to be six times larger than the BC industry. You won’t be able to sell your product in the US as consumers want environmentally sound product. See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/11/on-land-fish-farms-in-usa.html.

Here are a few players In the US, that will produce almost 5 times BC’s output: Atlantic Sapphire is aiming for 150,000MT and 260,000MT in the long run; Whole Oceans aiming for 10,000MT at first but aiming for 50,000MT; Nordic Aquafarms aiming for 33,000MT; Aquabanq 10,000MT; Aquacon 45,000MT; Pure Salmon aiming at 20,000MT, but with global plans for another 260,000MT. There are another 25 smaller on-land farms from 50MT to 500MT in the USA. In BC, Whole Oceans signed a long-term lease for the Kuterra on-land plant, so you could talk with them about their plans.

My list of on-land fish farms has 340 on-land fish farms around the world. The reality is that on-land has become commonplace: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html. I would say that every week or so a new on-land project is announced. And the on-land industry produces a million tonnes of fish.

Just so that you know, I read 30 global fish farm/seafood industry newsletters each week, and have done so for years. I am up to date on global fish farms.

DC (Dennis) Reid
*************** Here is another 30,000MT coming to Maine by 2024: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/12/good-news-post-dec-14-2020.html. American Aquafarms.