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
