RAS in Peace: The quick and the dead in land-based fish farming

Those who think land-based fish farming can replace
ocean-based aquaculture, may want to take a walk though this RAS cemetery

By SeaWestNews

Land-based fish farming seems to be the
buzzword for the lobby groups who want to put an end to sustainable ocean
aquaculture in British Columbia.

Bowing to pressure from the activists, the Justin
Trudeau-led Liberals, has pledged to move all ocean-based salmon farms in
British Columbia to land-based closed containment systems (RAS) by 2025.

In a desperate bid to get urban votes at
the expense of over 7,000 livelihoods in B.C.’s coastal communities, the
Liberals abandoned science, reality and sustainability by making the pledge
during the run-up to the recent federal elections.

Experts from the U.N., the industry, the
scientific community, aquaculture insurance giants and even land-based fish
farmers have described this policy as “nonsense”, “reckless”, “destructive” and
“careless”.

“By demanding 100 per cent closed
containment in just six years, the Liberals are in effect calling on us to shut
down successful, responsible farming operations already innovating new ways of
doing things in favour of an alternative that doesn’t actually exist,” states
John Paul Fraser, the executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.

In B.C. alone, there are many failed
attempts to grow either Pacific or Atlantic salmon in land-based recirculating
aquaculture systems (RAS) over the past 20 years.

Now the world’s largest seafood news and
information provider, IntraFish, has put together a list of land-based
or recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) projects that have collapsed.

Those who think land-based fish farming can replace ocean-based aquaculture, instead of the two being a hybrid system, may want to take a walk though this cemetery that has devoured millions of dollars in fantastical quests;