Thank you.
Members of the standing committee, thank you again for the invitation. My name is Bill Robertson. I am the current executive director of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre.
You've just heard a little bit about our history. Specifically related to this topic, I'd like to leave you with a couple of thoughts. The net-pen aquaculture system that you're reviewing is fairly complex, partly related to the geographic distribution of the systems. It occurs in fresh water, brackish water, and in various ecological systems in salt water. It comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and numbers, as Mr. Storey has just discussed.
We're raising a number of species. We're raising a number of strains within certain species, and we're applying a variety of management techniques to this net-pen system.
In some instances, there are issues related to environmental impacts. In this case, it may be appropriate to look at alternative methods, such as biological filtration, as will be discussed by Dr. Chopin when he addresses the IMTA system. Or it may prove useful to look at some of the new technological platforms, like the open ocean system.
It may be appropriate to recommend land-based tank culture under certain circumstances. The problem with these discussions is that this is not really a debate or review about biology. It's not really a debate or an overview about environmental science. It's a discussion about economics. It makes sense only if it makes good economic sense.
Here is something to consider: the Huntsman Centre is a unique organization, and it's in a unique location. We're in southwestern New Brunswick. If you look at a map of Canada, we're about as southwest as you can get.
In my office, when I look out the window, I look across the St. Croix River into the state of Maine, and we're right on the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay, which is one of the inner bays of the Bay of Fundy.
In addition to all the research and the training we do, we have this public aquarium focused on the Bay of Fundy. We display not only the traditional aquarium-type features of the ecology and creatures of the Bay of Fundy; we also talk about what drives the economy of the Bay of Fundy.
If you were to visit us, you would see that there is a display from Connors Brothers about the importance of the herring fishery. You would see a display on Cooke Aquaculture and the importance of salmon aquaculture in the Bay of Fundy. You would see a display on Paturel and the importance of the lobster fishery.
The point is that we attempt to demonstrate how important the economics of the fishery is to the Bay of Fundy.
Our approach to this debate would be to suggest that we create, using the Huntsman Centre facilities and expertise, a commercial-scale, land-based tank system. However, what we would propose might be different from other suggestions you've had. Our view is that this should be a full-scale demonstration project, indexed in real time against the commercial salmon farms that occur within a ten-kilometre radius from our campus.
In other words, we would use the same fish, the same number of fish, and the same types of nutrition strategies. We'd use the same technical staff to collect the data as a real-time demonstration project. In addition, we would suggest that it would work only if this were fully transparent and open to the general public, so you don't have to go hunting for the information.
In other words, this is not a one-off project, but a permanent platform for continuous improvement.
As we were discussing this idea and preparing to come before the standing committee about creating a demonstration farm, we asked a number of people what they thought of this concept. Some folks felt that our presence only legitimized the claim that there was a problem. In their view, there is no problem with open net-pen systems. Others felt that the Huntsman Centre coming here and making this kind of proposal represents the missing piece of what they've been looking for, and that we should consider having an advisory board for this demonstration farm. It would be made up of people who represent the three pillars of sustainable development: people who are socially active, people who are environmentally active, and people who have a broad-based knowledge of the economics of the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
Perhaps the most interesting debate was at our board of directors meeting, chaired by Mr. Walsh. The debate included the current president of the University of New Brunswick, who said that our region has a number of nodes of activity in aquaculture and we have a number of subject matter experts, but we don't have a platform that coalesces this all together in such a way that the nation can benefit from this, and by extension the aquaculture sector per se.
Right next door to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans St. Andrews Biological Station, run by the science branch. Within that station are a number of individuals who are world experts in their own right, whether it's in the field of oceanography, biodiversity, or physiology. Up the street we have the New Brunswick Community College, which has had for 30 years perhaps the most comprehensive technical training program for aquaculture technicians in the country. Down the street we have the Atlantic Salmon Federation, which is the one NGO whose primary focus is the conservation of wild Atlantic salmon.
In the town next to ours, the town of St. George, we have a satellite office for the Atlantic Veterinary College. The Atlantic Veterinary College is actually based in Prince Edward Island, but it's the only vet college in Canada with an aquaculture component. The reason they have a satellite office in St. George is that it is the closest they can get to the commercial aquaculture sector. Of course we're right on the fringe of the salmon aquaculture industry.
When we take all this together, and if we could put this into a demonstration platform, indexed in real time against the commercial salmon farming ventures, we could create and find real solutions.
Therefore—and there is always a therefore—when you're sifting through all the technical information that's been presented at your committee, when you're reflecting on the expertise of the testimony that's been given, and when you're debating this file to some kind of logical conclusion, we'd like to ask you to consider the Huntsman Centre's approach.
Thank you very much.