Aquaculture Ambassador: Angelique Pichette
“It is essential that we realize, that ultimately, we have a common goal. I became interested in aquaculture because I wanted to “save the environment” so to speak, which I imagine is the equal goal of most of those who do not support aquaculture,” Angelique Pichette, Council of Emerging Leaders in Aquaculture.
By Samantha McLeod
SeaWestNews
Aquaculture in Canada
today generates $5.16 billion in economic activity and employs over 25,000
people. As one of the fastest growing food sectors in the world, the industry
in Canada has a younger-than-average domestic workforce with two-thirds of all
employees under the age of 35. Our new series, Aquaculture Ambassador, is about
14 Canadians who have come together to showcase the growing presence of young
people in the sustainable future of farming the oceans. In this segment, we
talk to, Angelique Pichette, MSc. Lead Hand, Gold River Hatchery Grieg Seafood
BC Ltd.
Tell us a little bit
about yourself?
Growing up in
Northern Ontario I quickly developed an appreciation for nature. At a very early age I knew I wanted to spend
my life working with animals. After
graduating high school, I decided to study Marine and Freshwater Biology at the
University of Guelph. During my time
there, I took electives on Aquaculture and Fisheries in order to gain a more
thorough understanding of what was actually happening in our oceans and how
this resource was being managed. I
became particularly interested in aquaculture and went on to pursue my MSc. in
Aquaculture at James Cook University where I studied the nutritional
requirements of red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus). Since then I have had the opportunity to work
at a grow-out facility for Rainbow trout in Saskatchewan. I am currently employed with Grieg Seafood as
the Lead Hand at the Gold River Hatchery.
What drew you to
aquaculture?
The more I studied
and learned about the ocean and the various industries that directly and
indirectly affect the ocean, I became convinced that we were exhausting most of
the resources and ecosystems in the ocean. Between climate change, pollution, human
activity, increased seafood demand, habitat destruction, and everything in
between, wild fish stocks are in decline with, in my opinion at the time, no
hope. I then began to learn about
aquaculture and how this industry strives to be sustainable, ethical,
innovative and alleviate pressure on wild fish stocks. Aquaculture is a great solution to many of
the problems our oceans face, and being a relatively new industry in North
America, has a great potential for growth and development and policies that
actively involves issues that are important to us today, for examples issues
like sustainability, environmental stewardship, animal ethics, etc.
What’s your average
day in aquaculture like?
It is hard to
describe an average day at the hatchery.
It is a very dynamic workplace and our work varies from day to day. Fish husbandry is our number one priority so
my colleagues and I strive to ensure that the habitats meet the ideal
conditions for health and growth of the fish.
This means we are testing water quality daily and making adjustments to
the system when needed. We also verify
the feed response several times a day to ensure that we are not under or
overfeeding the fish. We grade fish
several times in their life cycle to ensure that fish are in habitats with
other similar sized fish. This allows us
to minimize competition and development of social hierarchies. We spend a lot of time on staff development
and improving hatchery procedures and policies.
Weekly standard operating procedure reviews are done to ensure we are
making changes that are reflective of new technology and new developments in
aquaculture. We review several programs
that we use with different staff on a weekly basis to ensure that everyone is
familiar with all the biological components involved in feeding fish. This is very important due to the fact that
fish are ectotherms and their biology and metabolism are greatly affected by
the conditions of the habitat. Knowing
how these variables interact is an integral part of feed fish effectively and
avoiding stress to the animal. Most
importantly, the average day at the hatchery, while it can be stressful at
times, is fun. We have an outstanding
team with an incredible amount of experience and knowledge giving us a fantastic
team dynamic.
How do you plan to
change the current narrative about aquaculture, in particular salmon farming in
Canada, from conflict to conversations about sustainability?
It is essential that
we realize, that ultimately, we have a common goal. I became interested in aquaculture because I
wanted to “save the environment” so to speak, which I imagine is the
equal goal of most of those who do not support aquaculture. Once we realize that we are fighting for the
same cause I think it gives us more opportunity to have these discussions about
aquaculture and how we can improve the industry so that we are meeting this
goal together. It is also imperative
that companies strive to be open and transparent with the public. A lot of the things I hear or read that are
negative about aquaculture are often based on misconceptions of the
industry. Getting the public out to
hatcheries, farms etc. so they can see how a farm operates would be a great way
to start. Letting people experience and
observe what we are doing on a daily basis will help gain public trust and
enable us to start changing the existing narrative.
What is the single
biggest project you are working on now?
At Grieg, we are
currently building a new land based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). This will enable us to more effectively
produce smolts as we will be using new technology and equipment to run the new
RAS unit.
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