My name is Dave Brown. I'm the vice-chair of the Squamish to Lillooet Sportfish Advisory Committee. I'm here today because of a fisheries working group that was formed with our local MP, John Weston. Our sportfish advisory committee wrote to John, expressing our concerns over the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in 2009 and the potential links to aquaculture. After receiving our letter, John suggested we form a fisheries working group.
Our group, which I represent here today, is made up of various members of our community who care for salmon. We have sport fishermen participating in our group, fishing guides, Squamish and West Vancouver Streamkeepers, Squamish first nations, North Vancouver Outdoor School, and concerned citizens. We have met several times with John, and he has carried our concerns forward to Ottawa.
In small part, our group led to Prime Minister Harper's decision to call for a federal inquiry into the collapse. I would like to thank and commend the committee for undertaking the efforts to learn more about the impact salmon farming is having on our wild salmon. You have a serious task before you, and we trust you will look closely into all measures that can be undertaken to prevent the spread of disease and sea lice to wild salmon.
We put forward a submission. We asked that the federal government look into funding for closed containment salmon farming to reduce impacts on wild salmon. We asked that the federal government make a substantial contribution to the establishment of a closed containment fund to foster innovation and advancement of new economically viable technologies and pilot projects. This would be a significant federal contribution from the 2010 fiscal year, combined with allocations from the 2011 budget. A contribution such as this would leverage contributions from non-governmental philanthropic sources and could conceiveably trigger a sizeable contribution for the province of B.C.
There are contentious problems with open salmon farming. The farmed salmon is B.C.'s single largest agricultural export product. The industry generates about $338 million per year in revenue and employs 2,100 people, primarily in coastal communities. In contrast, the commercial and sport fishing industries together employ about 9,700 people, with a total revenue of $1.2 billion. The problem lies with the salmon farming industry and its use of open-net cages. This technology clearly has negative impacts on wild salmon and other resources. This is a result of current farming practices. Current farming practices are one of the province's most politically divisive and contentious issues, an ongoing topic of heated citizen debate and voter angst.
The Squamish fisheries group is concerned about wild salmon and their economic value and the importance to local first nations. We wish to encourage our federal representatives to facilitate a win-win solution to this quagmire, one that sustains an improved industry and protects wild salmon and ocean health, creates new technologies, jobs, exports and opportunities, and positions Canada as a global leader in economically viable solutions.
As the marketplace increasingly adapts to sustainable seafood policies and consumer awareness bills, ecologically appropriate and economically viable production methods will only gain in importance. Future market access for Canadian farmed salmon will depend on the sector's commitment to innovation and improved environmental performance. The Government of Canada can play a critical role in ensuring this country's aquaculture products meet standards emerging from the increasingly rigorous international sustainability assessments and processes.
An overwhelming amount of published research indicates that open-net caged salmon farming poses a serious threat to marine ecosystems, wild salmon survival, and wild fish populations. Harm to wild salmon translates into harm to local first nations that depend on wild salmon, local constituents who enjoy fishing pursuits, and local businesses that depend on economic boosts from salmon-associated tourism.
Healthy businesses in B.C. coastal communities are linked to ecosystems in more than one way. In addition to relying upon the ecosystem to supply raw materials for the primary resource sector, the proceeds of these jobs trickle down to the support of numerous service industries. Wilderness tourism and recreational and commercial fishing combined employ thousands of British Columbians and generate over a billion dollars in annual economic activity. Wild-salmon-dependent industries are a vital component of the B.C. economy and our business sector that demands solutions to the threat posed by industry.
The Pacific Salmon Foundation, a government-mandated body formed by former fisheries minister John Fraser, conducted a multi-year $5 million research examination project, which included top-tier academics and government scientists, to examine fisheries management in B.C. as it related particularly to aquaculture. In May of 2000, a key final recommendation made to the government by the Pacific Salmon Foundation was to design and implement a commercial-scale trial of closed-containment systems for farmed-raised salmon.