Land-based salmon farming faces many challenges in BC

“I see a long-term future for land-based [fish farming], but unfortunately, not here in B.C. unless something drastically changes,” – Gary Robinson, consultant with Kuterra

By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews

Land-based fish farmers in British Columbia say their nascent industry will be adversely impacted by the government’s proposed ban on traditional ocean-based salmon farming on Canada’s west coast.

They say logistical challenges, regulatory uncertainties, economic viability and infrastructure requirements all contribute to the difficulty of establishing a thriving land-based fish farming industry in the region.

The Liberal government, bowing to demands of anti-fish farming activists, has announced a ban on open-net salmon farming in British Columbia after 2029, despite the government’s own fisheries experts’ findings that the marine operations pose minimal risk to wild stocks.

Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier has promised a transition plan for the sector, which will involve moving the open-net farms to close-containment facilities in water and on-land.

Robert Walker, president of Gold River Aquafarms Ltd said while he believes that the industry uptake of land-based systems is inevitable, there are many challenges to be addressed.

They include access to sites that have electricity, water, and acceptable location; lack of skilled employees; regulatory uncertainty; and enough hydro power.

“The transition from net cage operations to controlled environment farms will take time, certainly, more than the five years allotted by the recent Ministerial decision, said Walker in an open letter addressed to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“In the meantime, the uncertainty of how the transition is to take place will drive away much of the existing industry – staff will leave for work that is more stable; supporting industries will find other areas of focus,” he said.

“The collapse of the net cage sector will be harmful towards the nascent land-based sector because the supporting industry infrastructure will not be there.”

Canada’s National Observer recently reported that hurdles like secure supply of hatchlings, a future-proof feed supply and regulatory challenges for new entries to the market, have limited the prospect of a thriving land-based farming industry in B.C.

Feed supply will also become a challenge for land-based farms said Gary Robinson, a consultant with Kuterra, which began as an Atlantic salmon farm more than a decade ago but last year switched to steelhead trout. It operates on land leased by the ‘Namgis First Nation near Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.

Right now, Kuterra uses the same suppliers selling food to open net pen farms. Once the ocean-based farms are gone, suppliers will not stay in B.C. unless the land-based farms industry increases in number, said Robinson.

If feed suppliers leave the province, and Kuterra is forced to order feed from eastern Canada or the US, Robinson said it would add significant trucking costs.

Robinson told the Observer he wants the industry to thrive here, but says it’s not guaranteed.

“It’d be nice to be here. But because of the situation in B.C., the costs of building and doing businesses in B.C., the regulatory uncertainty… I see a long-term future for land-based [fish farming], but unfortunately, not here in B.C. unless something drastically changes,” Robinson said.

Global fisheries, aquaculture and climate scientists have labelled the activism around moving all BC salmon farms to land based operations within five years 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, they said.

Moving the current production of Atlantic salmon to land based tanks on Vancouver Island will result in an increase 22,881,000 kgs of Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions, a recent study said. That is equivalent to the energy needed per year to power a population of 52,200 or a city the size of North Vancouver.

A BC government-commissioned report projected that replacing BC’s current salmon farm production with recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), also known as land-based or closed containment operations, would require a direct investment of between $1.8 billion to $2.2 billion.

The report authors from Counterpoint Consulting Inc. also estimated that it will be at least 10 years before a significant land-based salmon production sector is operating at a steady rate in BC.

It mirrors an earlier government report –  The State of Salmon Aquaculture Technologies study released in February 2020 which warned RAS technology requires the use of large amounts of land, water, and power, and thus has a significant environmental footprint, in particular greenhouse gas emissions.

The BC coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) has said that moving to land-based salmon farming is not an option for its members.

“Some Nations in this coalition have completed feasibility studies on land-based salmon farming in their territories for many years, and they came to the same result: it is not possible, and if it was, they would have moved to land-based salmon farming years ago,” FNFFS said.

With files from Hope Lompe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter at Canada’s National Observer.

Image courtesy of Kuterra