State of Salmon Aquaculture Technology - ASF, DFO

Hi Atlantic Salmon Federation

I wouldn’t be so keen on this new report, State of Salmon Aquaculture Technology from DFO: http://dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/documents/publications/ssat-ets-en.pdf, done by Gardner Pinfold.

Gardner Pinfold has done work for the BC fish farmers and it’s recent report to them had the false employment number of 7,000. The BC Government’s own figure is 1800, making the Pinfold number 389% too high, and thus not believable.

Also, the fish farms say on-land has many negatives, but ignores the sewage of in-ocean. When I figured out the sewage cost in BC, it was a whopping $10.4B to $31.2B as a conservative estimate. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/02/fish-farm-sewage-huge-cost-to-bc.html. You can use this method to calculate the sewage cost in any province, for example, NS.

Here is your quote of the BC FF: “The report "highlights that land-based [RAS] technology requires the use of large amounts of land, water, and power, and thus has a significant environmental footprint, in particular greenhouse gas emissions," BCSFA said. "It also notes the technology has not yet been proven on a commercial scale, and needs to overcome challenges with fish quality, fish health, broodstock development, and environmental impacts before being viable."”

This is false, and is the communications spin fish farms have been using for 50 years. They ignore that Norway is fostering on-land by having free licences, while the in-ocean licence has risen to $32- $40-million. See: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/08/increase-license-fees-to-32-to-40.html,

And there are lots on on-land farms. I have found 308 so far: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html. Fish farms ignore how common on-land is. They say it doesn’t exist, and even if if did, it would be too expensive. False.

Your quote of the BC FF is: “"As the report suggests, it will be at least another two years before we understand whether commercial-scale land-based operations can be profitable, and can start addressing these mission-critical issues," BCSFA noted.” This is false. My list of on-land includes lots of studies and financial reports on on-land - DNB and Rabobank among them. And my list of good news for on-land also contains funding studies, with more than 300 entries: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html. 

And, your quote: "The BC aquaculture industry reports to support more than 60 businesses and organizations, is responsible for 7,000 jobs and contributes CAD1.5 billion ($1.13bn) to the economy, serving as the province’s most valuable agricultural export."

These are Gardner et all figures, and the BC government's own figure for revenue is $773M, about 50 % of the consultant's figure. See:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html. And its GDP is only $194.4M, compared with the other parts of the salmon sector, and only 19.2% of the total. Sport is vastly larger than in-ocean fish farms: 9000 jobs and double the contribution of fish farms, and 38.9% of the total.

DC (Dennis) Reid

Naive Politicians Believe Industry Figures. Tsk Tsk. Believe the real ones.

HI ASF (Atlantic Salmon Federation)

On the Digby article, it is worth remembering just how low employment and real GDP is in fish farms. The politicians, naively back fish farms because they promise those jobs and revenue, and think DFO has a good regulatory regime, so why not, let’s have the jobs.

That is what the councillors think at the bottom of the article. However, I’ve done the research to find that employment is way below what fish farms claim. They want to get in the water because they know they will never be taken out, DFO being on the side of fish farms.

So, go read my analysis of the BC Stats Report in BC, and at the bottom, employment. Jobs turn out to be a small fraction of what is promised, and Inka Milewski points out the jobs have fallen in Atlantic Canada by 32%. Furthermore, the automation from Norway will be brought here and result in an 80% drop in employment.

So those politicians who are naively trusting Cermaq, and DFO, in this case, should have done their homework and said no.

Here is my article: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/mar-21-2019-bc-stats-report-2016.html. It has the reference to the Milewski article in it. Do read it as it is the best single article I have ever read on fish farms after reading tens of thousands of pages of scientific articles.

And there are those 308 on-land fish farms I have found: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.

And now, almost 300 good news articles on on-land in the past year:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html.

DC (Dennis) Reid

Most Popular Posts - Jan, 2020

Here are the most popular posts on this site in Jan 2020. This site puts the post at the end of the month or the first day of the following month, or so I say. This means that it is very easy to find the most popular posts back to Sept 1, 2016.

This site has a global audience, and on Jan 29, for example, the largest audience is from Russia. Other countries occupy this position on other days, such as Canada, USA, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Ukraine, Australia, China, India, France, Netherlands and so on.

So, here are the posts:

1. Jobs and Revenue? Hasta la Vista In-ocean Fish Farms:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/12/jobs-and-revenue-hasta-la-vista-fish.html. This post explodes the myth that in-[ocean fish farms are about jobs and revenue. It notes the government's own stats are way below the ones fish farms dream up. And revenue largely goes back to Norway to shareholders, and that jobs will decline drastically, as the Milewski article notes.

2. Escape of Non-native Salmon - Farm Phase Out Plan:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/12/escape-of-non-native-salmon-farm-phase.html. While fish farms and DFO say farmed fish can't escape, etc., I show John Volpe's work - that DFO is well aware of - shows that 153,000 fish leak out each crop and spawn in Van Isle rivers.

3. Fish Farms Kill Wild Salmonids, Says Status of Wild Salmon in Norway 2018. This is a major new report:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/04/fish-farms-kill-wild-salmonids-says.html. This post has been a well-viewed one for the past 10 months.

4. Atlantic Salmon Breed in BC Rivers - Tsitika, John Volpe, Economic Stats: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2017/09/atlantic-salmon-breed-in-bc-rivers.html. This is Volpe's most important paper on the problem in BC. You should read this one.

5. Escapes! Escapes! -  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/01/escapes-escapes.html. This one lists the catastrophes in fish escapes that happens all around the world, and often one or more escape events per week, it's that bad.

6. Most Stringent Laws in the World: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2013/12/most-stringent-fish-farm-laws-in-world.html. Fish farms like to claim they operate under the strictest laws in the world in every country in which they operate. This is categorically false because every country's laws are different.

7. BAD NEWS BITES - this one brings the problems I have found in the fish farm/seafood industry to 5,500 problems in the last several years. Hard to believe, yet true: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/09/bad-news-bites-post-13.html.

8. Dead Zones - Oceans at Critical Crossroads - Fish Farm and Other Pollution Must Stop:       http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2020/01/dead-zones-oceans-at-critical.html. This one is the most scary post in a long time, as the oceans are absorbing the equivalent of pollution of five Hiroshima bombs every second. You must read this and call on governments to stop in-ocean fish farms.

Study on Closed Containment - Bernadette, Major Changes are Needed, Updated Feb 1, 2020

Hi Bernadette Jordan, Min of DFO

Please send me a link or copy of the study you are doing on on-land fish farms.

This sure looks like your staff does not know the industry as well as those of use who write about it do.

For example, my list of on-land fish farms around the world has 308 different farms: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html. This means that on-land, despite negative crowing to the opposite by the industry, is well established, and the in-ocean industry is on its last legs as on-land will take away its markets. This post has lots of studies and financial documents in it.

In North America for instance, Atlantic Sapphire, on land in Florida, when fully operational will be more than twice the entire Canadian market in the USA, at 260,000MT. The Canadian farms need to be on land or they are going to be wiped out. In addition, there are a half dozen other on-land farms coming on stream in the USA. BC’s market is 85% to the USA. They will be wiped out in the next few years, unless they come out of the water because consumers are fed up with in-ocean pollution.

That is the reality, and if your staff say different, I am sorry to say, they don’t know what they are talking about. In the past year, for example, my list of positive stories, studies, economic comparisons about on-land farms has grown to 300 articles/studies. That is the reality: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/good-news-post-links-to-on-land-closed.html. I suggest your staff start catching up with what the rest of us commentators already know.

The other side of this story is that because of DFO mismanagement for the past 50 years, wild salmon are in crisis in BC. You need to do something. Your Big Bar project is just one project on one river. Your program on habitat restoration across BC has serious flaws. Here is one post on it that you can read, illustrating problems and giving links to another post on the flaws with your habitat restoration program: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/11/salmon-habitat-restoration-raincoast.html.

The post also lays out a good method to solve chinook salmon problems in BC.

Thanks

DC (Dennis) Reid