Seafood Section of McColl Magazine

B.C.’s Salmon Farmers Call for Reconsideration of Discovery Islands Decision: Feb. 23, 2021 - Based on the findings of an independent economic analysis released today, B.C.’s salmon farming community is calling on the federal government to set aside its decision to force the closure of farms in the Discovery Islands area and engage a new process.

Making a career out of growing fish on Canada's Pacific Coast

Lauren Edgar, 23, from Klemtu, B.C., is making a career out of fish farming. "I've been working for Marine Harvest Canada for two years full-time and a period of time before that as a part-time employee. I am making career of it." Lauren did a course at Vancouver Island University on shellfish farming last year at VIU. It was a nine-week course, "some in Prince Rupert, some in Nanaimo."
     

She enjoyed the course and school and continues to advance those aspirations by looking at further education opportunities including VIU and on-the-job training. Lauren works out of Klemtu, B.C., on Swindle Island in the central coast. It's the southern end of Tsimshian Nation where she lives and was born and raised. "I work on site in an eight-day shift and we live in a float-house," explained Lauren, "I like it. It's very nice and sometimes it gets interesting during the winter." Winter storms make the water choppy..
     

Lauren feeds MHC Atlantic salmon that are grown by Kitasoo Seafoods Ltd and processed in a facility in Klemtu, "Right now that's my main job, to feed the fish." It's an amazing event each day, whereupon, "The fish really get going, it's all on camera." Daily operations are under the watch of MHC personnel like Lauren,. "We are connected to head office by phone and internet." In her job, "We do one feeding session once-a-day at the present size of the fish in my pens," whereas, "When they're smolts they get more feedings per day." 
      

The work in fish farming is exciting, "It's fun to watch the fish grow and interesting to see how big they get." Lauren describes the routine, "At harvest time," which for the site she works on will be relatively soon; meantime, "Various facets need to be done on site by employees, for example, we do mort-cleaning on 14 pens and go to each pen every second day for inspections with part of the operation automated and part done with a dip-net." Dying fish are rare in the net-pens and they find one or two per pen out of literally thousands of fish, but she is educated about and fully apprised of the potential for disaster on a farm site. "A plankton bloom could really kill a lot of the fish in the pen. A harvest takes about two years to produce. 
    

"We get moved from site to site occasionally depending on the personnel situation, or you might stay there on the same site for many months working eight days in and six days out." 
     

She loves the company, "Marine Harvest Canada is a really good company," and she is knowledgeable about fish farming, "Before Marine Harvest Canada came to Klemtu my dad ran a fish farm that was owned by Kitasoo for four years. He managed the site." Her dad has since moved from Klemtu.
     

She remains a central coast person , "I liked it growing up here and I love living here today," but when she gets a break she travels from the remote area to Campbell River or the Lower Mainland.

NBCC the nexus of aquaculture in New Brunswick

Rod Carney is one of the Aquaculture Technician instructors at NBCC-St. Andrews College in New Brunswick, an education institution that lies at the centre of a thriving aquaculture industry in the province. First Nations in eastern Canada have been accessing NBCC-St. Andrews for years to gain technical training in growing fish.

“Over the years we’ve run several programs specifically requested by First Nations, and within the program last year we graduated two more Aboriginal students out of Quebec,” said Rod. The Aquaculture Technician course runs over a ten-month school term from September to June each year with a combination of school work and hands-on training that offers a tech-oriented learning curve.

“St. Andrews in Charlotte County in the south-west is the centre of aquaculture in the province,” he said, describing the island-dotted south-west coast Charlotte County, New Brunswick. “Ninety five percent of the $300 million a year aquaculture industry is located in the south-west coast,” he notes. Other areas of the province have lobster beds and shellfish developments but the Atlantic salmon grow in the waters off Charlotte County.

Rod said the first commercial salt water fish farm was set-up in 1978 and the industry went through the same growing pains that have been reported elsewhere as the industry evolved into a highly regulated and industrialized economy thriving on both coasts. “We’re growing about half the amount of Atlantic salmon that is produced on the west coast,” where the fin-fish aquaculture industry is about $600 million annually, largely for export, making it B.C.’s largest agricultural export.

Rod was a graduate of aquaculture technical training at New Brunswick Community College at St. Andrews in 1979 where he’s now the teacher (one of two instructors) for Aquaculture Technicians-in-training at NBCC-St. Andrews. NBCC campuses are found in Fredericton Centre, Miramichi, Moncton, Saint John, Woodstock, and the NBCC College of Craft and Design.

“Our campus has the aquaculture focus as a practical outcome with industry and hatcheries operating in the vicinity. Our campus has several programs but the training for aquaculture has been set here and much of the training relates to on-land rearing and ocean-based net-pen aquaculture, specifically the growing of Atlantic salmon.”

Because industry is looking at other developments in fish research and development occurs in different species. “We are experimenting with halibut, cod, and shortnose sturgeon,” a fish native to the eastern seaboard and the riverine systems flowing into the east coast.

One company in the province, Supreme Sturgeon and Caviar, works in Charlotte County with 45,000 sturgeon producing three tonnes of caviar per year. The shortnose sturgeon female can live up to 60 years and grow to about 4.5 metres under ideal growing conditions, and sturgeon will live in tidal waters.

“The Atlantic salmon farms in our waters produce for the markets in the North Eastern U.S. and eastern Canada,” said Rod. Meanwhile the program for students at NBCC-St. Andrew will be part of the province to building partnerships with universities in New Brunswick, transferring certificate course credits to university and vice versa. “Our goal is to see the Aquaculture Technician program count as one year toward a four year degree.” Contact Rod at nbcc@gnb.ca or visit www.nbcc.nb.ca