As Canada dithers, the world moves on with aquaculture
Canadian politicians have become victims of
science-deficit activism, while countries around the world expand their aquaculture
operations
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
As Canada dithers about growing salmon in
the seas, countries around the world are increasing ocean-based aquaculture
production for long-term sustainable food and nutrient security.
From China to India, Iceland to America and across Europe, governments are working with industry, conservationists and coastal communities to boost sustainable aquaculture as the United Nations keeps warning that over 90% of fisheries in the world are either fully exploited or overexploited.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the expected growth in demand for fish and fish products needs to be largely met from aquaculture.
In Canada, however, the newly-minted
Liberal minority government has fallen prey to a coalition of activists based
in urban centres, to declare that it will transition salmon farming in British Columbia
out of the oceans and into closed containment systems by 2025.
Global aquaculture experts, scientists and
the industry have labelled this move as unrealistic, reckless and destructive
because growing the global supply of salmon on land would require the same
amount of energy per year needed to power a city of 1.2 million people and contribute
to higher CO2 emissions.
Raising land based Atlantic salmon also
costs 12 times more than ocean farming.
“This (The Liberal pledge) is a reckless
policy, not grounded in science, and it will threaten good middle-class jobs
across Canada,” said Timothy Kennedy, President & CEO of the Canadian
Aquaculture Industry Alliance.
“There is no evidence that B.C. salmon
farms are harming wild salmon populations…No other nation has proposed this
requirement of their salmon production.”
Here is some of what is happening around in
the world of aquaculture;
SCOTLAND
The Scottish salmon sector has the backing
of all the parties in the Scottish parliament, following the two inquiries held
into the industry last year. The opportunities for growth are only limited by
capacity and the continuing drive for sustainability, according to Fergus
Ewing, Scotland’s Rural Economy minister
“Aquaculture is vital to our rural economy,
generating more than £620 million of added value to the Scottish economy every
year, and supporting thousands of jobs in some of our most fragile coastal
communities…So it is essential that we support our aquaculture sector and its
sustainable growth, to ensure that economic opportunities are maximised, whilst
ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental protection,”
he states.
The UK government recently announced fresh
funding for Scottish farming as part of a £160 million investment package.
AFRICA, THE CARRIBEAN, THE PACIFIC
The EU, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) just signed a €40 million, five-year programme to boost the development of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs
and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, said, “The focus on all three aspects of
sustainability – the economic, the environmental and the social – sets this
programme apart. It will enable us to strike a balance between production and
protection, to contribute towards fair income distribution; to promote decent
working conditions, sound fisheries management and social inclusiveness; and to
champion sustainable aquaculture practices.”
Fisheries and aquaculture in most of the 79
ACP countries have grown significantly over the last 20 years.
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Of the 28 countries making up the E.U., the
United Kingdom, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain accounts for around 75 percent
of aquaculture production.
E.U. Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella
stressed the need for sustainable fish farming to flourish and confirmed the
European Union’s commitment to large-scale expansion of aquaculture by
member-states.
“It is an industry that creates economic
growth, employment and economic stability, especially in rural areas and along
coastal areas,” Vella said.
The EU aquaculture sector is made up of
around 12,500 companies, which are mostly micro-businesses employing less than
10 employees. The total number of employees was 73,000 in 2016, a figure that
has remained stable for several years.
Overall, the value of aquaculture
production in the E.U. is predicted to increase from EUR 2.85 billion (USD 3.25
billion) in 2013 to EUR 4.09 billion (USD 4.66 billion) by the end of 2025.
Countries predicted to experience the largest increase in value through their
national programs include Belgium (156 percent) Herzegovinian (132 percent),
Ireland (122 percent), and Lithuania (111 percent).
CHINA
China has become the fastest-growing market
for salmon in the world, with numbers indicating it has grown a whopping 166
percent in the last eight years. If China’s consumption of salmon continues to
grow, it will rapidly become the most dominant market for Atlantic salmon by a
wide margin by 2030, when seafood consumption per capita is expected to
increase by 50 percent. Ultimately it is projected that China will demand 70
percent of the worldwide Atlantic salmon supply. Offshore aquaculture
installations have become increasingly popular in China as coastal regions
shift fish farms out of environmentally challenged on-land sites. The offshore
platforms are also proving popular in one city for another economic driver –
tourism, reports Undercurrent News. Tourists visiting aquaculture farms off the
coast of Rongcheng in Shandong Province pay to take boat rides out to
distinctive yellow platforms where fish are being raised in deep-water
facilities. The visitors can feed the fish, and for a premium, can go fishing
themselves. The local Ocean and
Fisheries Bureau in Rongcheng claims the “leisure fishing” side of the industry
was worth CNY 2.5 billion (USD 372.3 million, EUR 329.8 million) to the city in
2018, with the figure incorporating cash spent and incomes generated locally.
Due to this success, the Rongcheng city
government is working with local aquaculture firms and fishing cooperatives to
build nine “leisure fishing” platforms this year alongside seven
“national-level demonstration” deep-water offshore aquaculture facilities and
seven more “provincial-level” platforms farming various species.
VIETNAM
Vietnam has announced plans to
substantially increase the size of its marine aquaculture sector production to 710,000 tonnes by 2020 – an
increase of 65 percent compared to 2018 levels.
The country’s marine aquaculture sector has
been growing by 20 percent every year since 2010 and produced 431,600 tonnes of
fish and shellfish, from an area of 258,000 hectares, in 2018.
The country plans to increase annual marine
aquaculture production to 710,000 tonnes by 2020 – an increase of 65 percent
compared to 2018 levels. By 2030 it aims to expand to 1.75 million tonnes, from
an area covering 300,000 hectares, including 30,000 hectares of offshore
production. In terms of value, Vietnam believes that exports from the sector
will be worth US$4 to US$ 6 billion.
INDIA
India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala
Sitharaman, has announced plans to boost the country’s burgeoning aquaculture
sector by providing appropriate policy, marketing and infrastructure support.
According to Moneycontrol News, the Indian government set up a multi-million
dollar special Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF)
last year and it has set a target to increase the country’s seafood production
to 15 million tonnes by 2020, and 20 million tonnes by 2022-23. During 2018-19,
India exported 14,37,445 tonnes of seafood worth US$6.8 billion in an industry
that sustains more than 40.5 million people.
The United States is the major market
followed by the European Union, Southeast Asia, China and Japan. India’s Vice
President M. Venkaiah Naidu has described aquaculture as the “best
alternative for reinforcing the fish sector”.
BANGLADESH
Aquaculture has enabled over two million
Bangladeshis to escape poverty between 2000 and 2010, states a new study by the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Of the 18 million
Bangladeshis who escaped poverty in 2000-2010, more than two million of them
managed to do so because of aquaculture, it said. The study said increasing
aquaculture investment and productivity in Bangladesh could lead to an overall
increase in production of as much as 120% in 2030. “Contrary to assumptions
that nutrient-rich foods will remain out of reach for the poor, the story of
fish aquaculture in Bangladesh shows how nutrient rich food can become more
widely available for all,” states Shahidur Rashid, IFPRI Director for South
Asia.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
The United Nations FAO states the market in
Southeast Asia is ready for large-scale fish production in its open seas and
labels the region as a “hub” for the quantity and potential of marine
aquaculture. One large-scale offshore plan in the making is a $24 million
project in Cambodia proposed by the Norwegian firm Vitamar. It can start to
produce 3,000 tons of fish within seven to eight years and kickstart offshore
aquaculture in Cambodia. Indonesia has been touted as a future hotspot for
open-sea fish farms in Southeast Asia, with its vast coastlines and relatively
stable wind conditions. Within the last ten years, the country has developed
marine aquaculture as a ‘blue economy’. Indonesia has been working on pilot
projects with foreign companies. In Malaysia, traditional fishers are being
urged by their government to take up fish farming to protect their future and
save depleting wild fish stocks at the same time. Malaysia’s aquaculture
industry is highly profitable, producing 427,022 tonnes of seafood, worth more
than £580 million a year. The country is now the world’s 15th largest producer
of farmed seafood. But conventional fishing, at almost 1.5 million tonnes a
year, is putting huge pressure on wild stocks. State governments are helping by
giving fishermen temporary occupation licences to kick start their aquaculture
projects.
USA
America’s top seafood experts are calling
for an expansion of ocean farming, testifying at a recent U.S. Senate inquiry
that the country needs to tap its significant untapped potential to expand
sustainable marine aquaculture. The hearing – “Feeding America: Making
Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture a Reality” – is part of a push for
streamlining offshore aquaculture regulations in the US by Senator Roger
Wicker, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Dr.
Paul Doremus, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations within the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the U.S. Department of Commerce, said the U.S.
currently imports at least 85% of its seafood, about half from aquaculture in
other countries.
“Stated simply, responsible aquaculture is
good for the economy, good for our communities, and good for the planet,” he
said.
Senator Wicker, a Mississippi Republican,
is expected to re-introduce proposed legislation, to ease the process by which
companies get permission to place net pens in federal waters.
ICELAND
A massive new aquaculture breeding and
hatchery centre has opened for business in the west of Iceland, on a remote
fjord more than 250 miles from the capital Reykjavik. The £25 million facility
covers 10,000 square metres near the small fishing harbour of Tálknafjörður,
where a company is currently engaged in a major expansion of its salmon farming
operations. Iceland’s fisheries minister Kristján Þór Júlíusson has also appointed
a special consultation committee designed to advise the government on
aquaculture issues. The country plans a five-fold expansion in open net fish
farms with a parliamentary bill that is expected to extend farm licenses from
10 to 16 years.
RUSSIA
Russia is experiencing a boom in
aquaculture and is seeking to increase its farmed seafood almost threefold, to
700,000 metric tons (MT) through 2030. The share of salmon in Russia’s
aquaculture is set to rise to over a third (37%), according to development
plans for the sector drawn up by the government. Russia’s federal government
has allocated funds to help businesses ease the burden of loans for purchase of
modern equipment, feed, or investment into building production capacity.
Through 2030, Russia is expected to produce 700,000 MT of farmed seafood a
year, according to head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, Ilya Shestakov.
NORWAY
A surge in the sales of both farmed
Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout helped Norway record its best ever six-month
period for seafood exports. Farmed salmon is Norway’s third largest export
behind crude petroleum and natural gas. The country is now looking at
installing new remote-controlled fish pen to meet the growing demand for salmon
and at the same time reduce the cost of feed and mortalities that result from
sea lice. Initial testing of the first pen will happen in 2020 off the coast of
Troms, after which the pens are expected to be moved further out to sea.
Photo
credit (Cermaq photo)