farm
by David Wiwchar
Ha-Shilth-Sa Southern Region Reporter
August 26, 2004
Tofino -
Tla-o-qui-aht councilor Elmer Frank looks out over a series of large net
pens in Clayoquot Sound. “Two years ago, when Creative Salmon’s
lease came up for renewal, we told them to pack up and get out of our
traditional territory,” said Frank. “But after sitting
down with them and seeing what they actually do, we changed our perspective
a bit,” he said.
Creative Salmon is
working towards organic certification for the indigenous Chinook salmon
it raises in six farms in Clayoquot Sound.
Owned by a consortium of Japanese and Canadian investors, Creative Salmon
prides itself on the fact it hasn’t used any antibiotics in 2 1/2
years, and fallows their farms for a longer period of time in an attempt
to reduce its impact on the creatures living on the seafloor underneath
their net pens.
According to Creative Salmon’s General Manager Spencer Evans, the
company’s philosophy is to put fewer fish in the net pens, thereby
reducing problems with disease, mortalities,
escapes, and waste.
“Most escapes
are caused by predator attacks, and since predators are less likely to
attack a pen with lower fish densities, we haven’t had any problems,”
said Evans, adding their only
loss occurred more than three years ago when they lost 3000 salmon due
to a sea lion attack. “If there is a loss, it isn’t necessarily
a bad thing as Chinook runs in this area are extremely low,” he
said. Their
salmon are only three generations removed from being wild, and escaped
farmed Chinook could help flagging local runs in Clayoquot Sound, he said.
“Dismissing the impact of escapes in such a cavalier fashion contributes
to real irritation and a growing lack of confidence the public has in
salmon farming,” said Lynn Hunter, BC Coordinator of the Coastal
Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR). “Escapes are most frequently
caused by human error, not predator attacks. An escape of farmed chinook
salmon in an area where wild Chinook runs are low could be disastrous.
Farmed domestic fish are
genetic pollutants, which pass along genetic traits, which diminish the
viability of wild fish. Until Creative Salmon and other companies convert
their operations to closed containment
facilities, there is no way they can claim their industry is sustainable,”
she said.
Broodstock for the farmed Chinook comes from the Robertson Creek and Big
Qualicum hatcheries, and feed for the 220,000 salmon at each of their
four active sites is made from fishmeal from the roe herring fishery.
According to Evans,
the feed only comes from sustainable sources, and from fish products that
would not be directly consumed by humans, even when local sources dry
up and feed has to be brought in from South America.
Although the Chinook fry are vaccinated before being placed in the net
pens, Evans proudly boasts their fish have not needed antibiotics for
2 1/2 years. According to Evans, Chinook salmon have a natural immunity
to IHN, so while salmon farms raising Atlantic salmon in Clayoquot Sound
have been devastated by IHN outbreaks, Creative Salmon hasn’t suffered
any losses or had any problems with the naturally occurring disease.
“It’s an ease on people’s minds that no antibiotics
have been used since 2001,” said Elmer Frank. “Creative Salmon’s
work towards organic certification certainly is a plus for us, but we
do need to know more about how it works,” he said. “Our Chiefs
and our people have
had a lot of questions and concerns about salmon aquaculture, and those
questions and concerns have been brought to Creative Salmon and answered.
They showed respect to our
First Nation and we appreciate that.”
Through their work with Creative Salmon, TFN now has eight members employed
on the farms, and is hoping more will be hired soon. TFN Chief and Council
are working with Creative
Salmon to develop a protocol agreement, similar to the agreement between
Ahousaht and Mainstream Canada (formerly Pacific National Aquaculture).
“We’ve spent the past eight years developing a relationship
between our Nation and Creative Salmon,” said Frank, who has more
than 12 years experience in the fish farm industry, and
was recently hired by Creative Salmon to be their liaison officer with
TFN.
“The level of consultation between Creative Salmon and TFN sets
a precedent for treaty in terms of how consultation should be done,”
he said.
Creative Salmon recently helped TFN seed a traditional clam beach, and
have also made in-kind donations to a series of in-stream surveys testing
fish health and population sizes in Clayoquot Sound.
According to Evans, Creative Salmon conducts regular samples of streams
around Clayoquot Sound for sea lice numbers, and do their own benthic
surveys underneath their fish farms and
in areas they’ve fallowed, which has since become a government standard.
Evans said Creative Salmon has almost reached organic certification with
the Pacific Organic Seafoods Association (POSA), and have only to change
they way they kill and bleed the 1500 metric tonnes of Chinook salmon
they produce annually.
POSA Chairperson Dr. Brad Hicks said Creative Salmon will be undergoing
an independent audit within the next few months along with three other
salmon farms, and could be the first company awarded organic certification
from the two-year old organization. Hicks said POSA is trying to get their
standards recognized by the Certified Organic Association of British Columbia
(COABC), but they do not have an aquaculture certification process at
this time.
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published by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Reproduction of this article
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