Fisheries committee  There have been escapes in Chile over the years and there are starting to be some wild runs of Pacific salmon into some of the rivers and streams in the Chilean region. I haven't heard of this happening anywhere else in South America.

Fisheries committee  I would also like to say that we need to look for what the source of the decline is. I think that on the Saint John River the decline in Atlantic salmon started long before the salmon industry began down in the Charlotte Island region, which by the way is a fair distance away from the mouth of the Saint John River.

Fisheries committee  I would add that sometimes the new technology we try doesn't work. In this particular case there was a failure with the new technology. All of the prototype testing that was done for that technology looked good. The salmon farming company obtained insurance and did their due diligence.

Fisheries committee  Gray's Aqua Farms has formed another company to farm salmon in the ocean. It's called Gray Aqua Group. They currently have two sites in production in Newfoundland, and that will grow in the years to come. They definitely plan to become a significant producer of Atlantic salmon in Canada.

Fisheries committee  Without feed and labour--and feed and labour in the ocean are by far and away the biggest costs--they would represent.... Feed and labour would represent well over 75% of the cost. Then there would be your capital costs and other operating costs, which would be your vessels to service the site, and also insurance and so on.

Fisheries committee  I would just go to your first question on disease and chemical disease from closed containment. Would it be less or more? I truly believe there would be more disease, and there would be more chemical discharge from closed containment, just from my experience. There are several examples that I spoke about, and there are more just on the east coast of Canada that have shown it becomes a very difficult husbandry issue in getting these fish up to these large biomasses in closed containment systems.

Fisheries committee  Yes, they can, but I believe it's highly unlikely, almost impossible, that this would happen. I don't believe they would make it up to the spawning pools to mate. I agree with Nell. It's a requirement. Introductions and transfers are administered through DFO. We are tightly controlled on the strain of fish that we're allowed to farm in our cages.

Fisheries committee  The answer to the first question is that in a closed containment system you would be forced to increase your densities over what we would like to maintain in the cages, or over what we do maintain, which is between 15 kilos and 20 kilos per cubic metre. That's at maximum, just before going to market.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members, for your invitation to speak to the standing committee regarding closed containment salmon aquaculture. I applaud you for looking into ways to make the Canadian salmon farming industry more sustainable and successful. My name is Terry Drost and I am speaking to you on behalf of Gray Aqua Farms Ltd., of Northampton, New Brunswick.