Thank you very much.
I'm the campaign manager for the Living Oceans Society. Our group is a member of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform. I would like to thank the committee for coming to B.C. and thank the first nations for this meeting on their traditional territories.
As the name of our coalition suggests, we are not opposed to aquaculture. We are working for aquaculture reform. We believe that aquaculture has an important role to play in meeting market demand for seafood, which is increasingly scarce at a global level. We also believe that jobs in coastal communities are very important.
I would like to raise a question about the job numbers, however. The special legislative committee on aquaculture provincially commissioned an independent report that concluded that the industry in B.C. generates a total of 2,900 jobs, direct, indirect, and induced. The British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association repeatedly cites a PricewaterhouseCoopers report concluding that there are 6,000 jobs. We would invite them to share that report with interested parties. To date there has been no transparency, and it's difficult to know how those numbers arose. Nonetheless, however many jobs there are, we recognize their importance.
But while we believe that aquaculture has a place in B.C., there is abundant evidence that the current practices are not sustainable and that the industry needs to change. CAAR has been trying for ten years to bring about that change, and for the last five years we've been working quite diligently with the largest salmon-farming producer in the world, Marine Harvest, and their Canadian division in a collaborative and constructive relationship to try to find mutually beneficial solutions.
I would like to point out that this work has already led to some modification of practices that relate directly to the issues surrounding Dr. Krkosek's predictions of extinction within a generation. Changes were made in the Broughton Archipelago as a direct result of CAAR's collaboration with Marine Harvest. Farms were fallowed or emptied into alternating channels during the juvenile wild salmon out-migration, and Marine Harvest began proactive treatment of lice during the out-migration period whenever counts were trending upwards to the trigger level. The industry likes to critique Dr. Krkosek's work, but we have to recognize that the status quo did change.
As the committee listens to the scientific debate around the evidence concerning sea lice, for instance, I think it's also important to recognize DFO's position not only at a domestic level but internationally. For instance, in a report produced in January 2010 for the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, or NASCO, the department stated: “Aquaculture information is mainly provided as it relates to marine-based activity, as it is widely accepted that this component of salmon farming comprises the primary risks to wild salmon.” So while at a domestic level DFO may challenge and counter the evidence, at an international level they're clearly accepting it.
We've been encouraging a transition to closed containment for ten years. Living Oceans and the member groups of CAAR have strongly encouraged this committee to recommend a significant federal investment in closed containment pilot projects to test the technology, to analyze the cost implications, but also to begin addressing the market shifts that are taking place.
Our primary market for farmed salmon in B.C. is in the U.S.; 85% or more of the salmon we produce goes to U.S. markets. Those markets are changing. Target Stores nationally in the United States have dropped farmed salmon, and within hours of making that announcement their share value went up by 4%. Safeway has written to the federal government of Canada encouraging investment in closed containment. We've provided copies to Travis of the letter from Safeway. I hope that's been made available to you. If it hasn't been translated yet, I'm sure you'll receive it shortly.
Overwaitea Food Group, I know you have heard, are selling closed containment salmon in their western Canada stores already. Federated Co-Ops, Compass Canada—a major supplier—the City of Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, institutions, hospitals are no longer carrying open-net-cage, farm-reared salmon because of the concerns around sustainability.
The impact is not just on wild fish, but on ocean ecosystems. We believe there are many concerns out there that are not necessarily valid. We've been working with Marine Harvest on their proposed closed containment pilot project. While there are rumours that the industry would move off the north island and away from B.C., Marine Harvest is actively seeking a site for their project on Vancouver Island, particularly on the north island.
Closed containment requires reasonably priced land and abundant fresh cold water, which are not readily available in Los Angeles.
Stores are seeking additional supply. I think it's important to note that Overwaitea is not charging a premium for the closed containment salmon they are selling. They have told us there's sufficient profit margin for both the producer and the retailer without a price premium.
We think that B.C. has tremendous advantages—its experience in fish husbandry, and its established markets, land, fresh water, and non-fossil-fuel sources of energy—and we strongly encourage a full investigation of closed containment.
Thank you.