Fisheries Committee on Feb. 6th, 2012

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Okay. I would like you to comment on eco-certification. Is this available to farmed salmon—either closed containment or open net?

[Alistair Struthers]

I'll pass that over to James Smith, who will have a comment, I believe.

[James Smith]

There are programs available now for farmed salmon, for either open net or closed containment.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Do you see that it is easier to obtain the certification for a closed-containment facility than for an open-net one?

[James Smith]

It isn't necessarily.

There are a number of programs available. There are differences and similarities among individual programs. They all require looking at the same elements, and they would apply equally to an open-net or a closed-containment facility. How they can meet the conditions really depends on the nature of the operation and the specifics of the operation.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

So you would say, at the price today, that we are a piece away from having the closed-containment facility being economically feasible--

[Alistair Struthers]

At the price today--

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

--in terms of where we are and what we know.

[Alistair Struthers]

Certainly, based on the analysis the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has conducted, it's not economically feasible given the selling price of salmon today.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. MacAulay.

Mr. Sopuck.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Thank you very much.

Early on in here, Inka Milewski gave us a talk about the benthic environment underneath net-pen aquaculture. She showed the effects of the deposition on the benthic invertebrates and the benthic environment, which made sense to me. I assume there is a way to rotate the net pens away from areas. How long does it take for the seabed to return to the original condition if the net pen has been removed?

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

The short answer is that it depends on the environment you're in. It also depends on the amount of organic matter that has accumulated underneath the nets. But certainly the farm benthic environments can recover in anywhere from months to years, depending on the amount of material, as I say.

Most of the operations in Canada are on some type of production cycle that does allow for a break between production cycles to allow the benthic environment to recover. That break can be anywhere from three months to a year, depending on the environment and the jurisdiction.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

So there are data that chart the change in the benthic environment from when the net-pen is removed to when it's fully recovered. Do you have that information?

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

Well, I would have—

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

The department has, I mean; I'm not asking for it now—

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

No, no—

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

But your department has it?

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

No, it would be more so with the provincial governments.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

In terms of escapes, given that these are not wild fish, that they're bred to grow in an aquaculture situation, what is the survival rate for fish that escape into the wild environment and not only have to compete with wild salmon but also deal with predation?

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

Again, I'll start off, and certainly others may jump in if they want to.

That's a hard question to answer definitively. As far as I'm aware, there haven't been extensive studies that have looked at this, but the information I'm aware of certainly suggests that there are quite high mortalities in escaped salmon after they've escaped and/or moved out of the areas, depending on the time of year.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Yes, I'd actually agree with that, because young fish going from fingerling to smolt are actually learning as they go about how to cope with the wild environment, an experience that a farmed fish would never have, so I would expect their mortality rate to be quite high. I'm satisfied with that.

In terms of the effect of aquaculture on wild salmon stocks, what's the department's...? Is the jury still out? I was struck by a report that was sent to me from the department. It was a quick report talking about the 2010 Fraser River sockeye returns being the best since 1913. Aquaculture has been going on in B.C. since 1985. I know that circumstantial evidence isn't necessarily cause and effect, but is the department comfortable that aquaculture and wild salmon stocks can co-exist?

[Guy Beaupré]

I think generally we are, yes.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Okay.

I have one last question regarding closed containment aquaculture. One thing that came out is that closed-containment aquaculture basically can be conducted almost anywhere that has the right power costs, access to land, and access to markets. Is it fair to say that a move to closed-containment aquaculture will really spread the aquaculture industry throughout North America, possibly to the detriment of coastal communities?

[Guy Beaupré]

There's one big factor that would be at play in establishing a closed-containment aquaculture plant, and that would be the price of land. A closed-containment plant would require quite a large piece of land. If you're close to the urban centres, you're going to pay more for your land than you would pay near the coast, so that could be a big factor. Access to power generation is also expensive, as is the access to water.

I know that many times with various projects it's important to be able to use gravity to get the water to flow to the plant and out of the plant rather than having to pump it, because that will increase the costs.