The post just before this one is what I sent to the FFE, And Gareth Moore responded to me. I then responded to him.
Here is what we both said. He seems like a reasonable guy:
Hi Gareth
A few comments: Everything I say has a reference, so if you want something, just let me know.
I agree with much of what you say.
Have a good day.
D
F
rom: Gareth Moore
Subject: Re: Canada farm closures 'are hurting technology investment'
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for getting in touch.
Sea lice are perhaps one of many factors responsible for the decline of wild salmon, but the jury's out on that. There's a difference between correlation (wild salmon have been in decline during the same period that salmon farming developed as an industry) and causation (salmon farms actually causing that decline, either by allowing lice populations to increase beyond what they would otherwise be in a particular area or by spreading disease).
[In 1900 the sockeye run from the Fraser, a major river, was 100,000,000. In 2020 the return was only 277 thousand or a quarter of one percent. DFO has also been managing the entire wild salmon resource into extinction for the past 50 years. This is at a point where we need to use the ‘precautionary principle’ to save fish.]
Salmon populations in the east of Scotland, where there are no salmon farms, and in England, where there are no salmon farms on either coast, are also in decline, so something else - or more likely, several things, are to blame in those areas, and in many other geographies.
These factors include warming seas pushing the food sources of migrating salmon further north, meaning the salmon have to swim further and arrive weaker. Predation from protected species such as seals and birds is also a factor. The biggest threat of all is man: there are more of us today than yesterday, and there'll be more tomorrow, and that puts pressure on the environment. As an example, a recent report in Washington state, where wild salmon remain at extremely low levels in some river systems despite removal of salmon farms, showed that a substance from car tyres is being washed into streams and killing wild salmon returning to spawn.
{The same is true here for seals and sealions eating 40- to 50% of juvenile coho and chinook on the way out. Also, killer whales eat primarily spawning chinook on the way back and they have reached such a low level that DFO has restricted catching of them, but so late that the whales may go extinct anyway.]
There are arguments for and against land-based farming, and perhaps the most pertinent point for BC is that the land-based farms in the US are being built close to large centres of population. If you were a salmon farmer looking to build a RAS facility to serve North America you'd choose somewhere close to where the market is, and that's not BC. On-land systems also use a lot of power and fresh water - a precious resource - and for the time being, at least, have produced precious few fish. They are also unable to produce fish at the same cost as net pen farms which use the ocean current rather than electric current.
[The same arguments were made against on-land in the US, and before that, on-land in Europe. It’s part of the spin developed from the late ‘70s. The reality is that the on-land output will soon exceed 2Million metric tonnes. In the US it will be six times the size of the BC output and with 85% of BC output going to the States, the reality is that the BC industry will be wiped out if it doesn’t come to land.]
[Also, note that Seattle, Portland and LA are three hours or less by jet. BC is as close to everywhere in the US as Atlantic Sapphire is in Florida. And land is cheap in Canada it being so large that the flight to NL is the same time as the flight across the entire Atlantic from NL. Land is cheap. Power is cheap, as BC is so large, for hydro and there is water. Canada is the second largest county in the world.]
[A comparison: BC is 11 times larger than Ireland, and BC is only 10% of Canada].
[As for production costs, some of the analysts are now saying the breakeven point has already been reached.]
That said, your suggestions for incentives are all good ones, and the sad thing is that they haven't been forthcoming from the federal government, which I personally think has treated the 1,500 salmon industry workers whose jobs are under threat appallingly.
[On the other side of the Discovery employees, are those 3.8 million BC residents who have been complaining about fish farms for the past 30 years, which is a very long time. Also, fish farm numbers are usually vastly inflated or deflated to fit their use. For example, they cite 7,000 jobs in BC, while the BC Stats Report says it is only 1800, meaning that those 1500 claimed employees are only about 385, which is peanuts compared with the sport industry employment of 9,000.]
[Here is the BC Stats Report: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html.
[And on those claimed ‘1500’ jobs and related issues are here: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2021/01/another-sleepless-night-thousands-of-bc.html. Based on metric tonnes per employee, the Discovery jobs are only 212. Even fewer peanuts.]
And I'll read the links you kindly sent me.
Regards,
Gareth Moore Editor Fish Farming Expert
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