American aquaculture firm takes over Kuterra's land-based salmon farm
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:13:19 +0000
An American aquaculture firm has taken a 15-year lease on B.C.’s only land-based Atlantic salmon farm.
Emergent Holdings views the pilot-scale farm near Port McNeill on Vancouver Island as a combination research facility and commercial producer, and plans to leverage the accumulated expertise at Kuterra in the $325-million expansion of its land-based aquaculture business on the East Coast of the United States.
“In addition to harvesting salmon every week, we will also capitalize on the knowledge and experience of the Kuterra staff by training our Whole Oceans employees from Maine,” the company said.
Emergent declined to say if it is planning to expand the facility, which is owned by the ‘Namgis First Nation, or if it plans to build other land-based salmon farms in B.C.
Kuterra was built with about $10 million in government and philanthropic money as a proof of concept for land-based salmon aquaculture and started production about seven years ago.
The facility is now harvesting sushi-grade Atlantic salmon economically, the company said.
Gerry Alfred and Richard Smith (right) harvest Atlantic salmon at the Kuterra closed containment salmon farm.
Kuterra may remain the only land-based facility of its kind for years to come, despite an election campaign pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to phase out open-net salmon farms.
While the conversation during the election period focused on land-based facilities and closed-containment farm designs, neither of those are mentioned in the mandate letter given to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan.
The minister is instructed to “work with the province of British Columbia and Indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025.”
There is no longer any mention of what technology the industry will transition to.
Trudeau’s campaign rhetoric sent a shock through the industry and their Indigenous partners. Twenty First Nations have partnership agreements with the major salmon farming firms.
“We’ve been pretty clear that 2025 is unachievable for a transition to technology that is very much in its pilot phase,” said John Paul Fraser, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers’ Association.
B.C. salmon farming firms use land-based, closed-containment farms to grow juvenile salmon before they are placed in net-pens to finish growing.
“We don’t hate this technology, we invented it,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s softer language — citing a “responsible plan” — leaves open the possibility of a compromise solution.
Mowi, formerly Marine Harvest, and Cermaq are experimenting with ocean-based closed farms and semi-closed designs that would prevent the transfer of sea lice from wild fish to farmed fish.
A transition to new ocean-based designs could preserve thousands of fish farming jobs in remote B.C. communities, Fraser said.
Opponents of open-net farms are keen to see net-pen farms retired, citing their impact on the marine environment and potential impacts on wild salmon.
The Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis, ‘Namgis and Mamalilikulla First Nations have moved to decommission 17 ocean-based farms in the Broughton Archipelago. Production from those farms has been shifted to other locations according to Mowi.
“It must also be noted that the technology needed to grow large numbers of salmon on land is still in its infancy and is yet unproven,” the company said in a statement. “Ocean-based salmon farming is the greenest form of animal agriculture in Canada, emitting far lower levels of carbon dioxide for each kilogram of food produced, while land-based salmon farms require huge amounts of land, water, and electricity to operate.”
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