by Jennifer Dart
The Westerly News
Sept. 13, 2007
A contract worker circumventing Mainstream Canada's harvesting procedures is to blame for a Sept. 4 breach in the company's net structure at their Saranac fish farm in Clayoquot Sound, says a company official.
Mainstream's deputy managing director Alistair Haughton told the Westerly the contract worker attached a shackle to a seine net at the Saranac farm site.
Nothing is supposed to be attached to the nets according to Mainstream procedures, but Haughton said he thinks the shackle was put there to prevent the net from twisting while workers were harvesting fish from one of the farm's pens early in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
There are 10 pens at the site, each measuring 30 by 30 metres and 15 metres deep. Harvesting occurs at night because it's less stressful on the fish and thereby ensures a better quality product, Haughton said.
On the night in question, about 18,000 of the 43,000 Atlantic salmon had already been pumped onto a harvesting boat when the one metre tear in the containment net occurred.
The containment net holds the fish and a larger predator net surrounds that.
Mainstream workers only learned of the breach when they saw fish swimming around in the predator net at 7 am the next morning. They then enacted their response plan, which involves dropping fine mesh nets into the containment net, and calling government officials.
Haughton said as far as they know, no fish have made it past the predator net into the open ocean.
Roughly 5,000 fish were harvested the day after the breach, leaving what should be about 20,000 fish caught between the two nets.
Boats from Ahousaht, in whose traditional territory the farms are located, came to assist the company by dropping nets around the farm.
"We only caught one coho [in these nets], which was encouraging," said Haughton.
"We've taken out 600 - 1,000 [Atlantics out of the predator net] every day since then. There were none observed outside the predator net."
They made the decision not to deploy their large seiner around the farm site for fear of catching all the wild fish in the area, Haughton said.
The company is emptying out all the pens at the site - which were ready to harvest anyway - to ensure an accurate count, and this process could take another week.
In response to rumours that fishers are catching Atlantics in the area, Haughton said they were chacking in to the reports.
But he urged anyone who catches what appears to be an Atlantic salmon to hold on to it and contact the company.
"A lot of people are getting excited and I fully understand that," he said.
Haughton said Atlantic salmon are identifiable by an extra dorsal fin near the tail that's clipped off wild fish, and they also have different markings.
He said the net breach is unfortunate, as the company, which just received a 20-year tenure renewal nod from the province (after the Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board backed the bid) for nine farms, including Saranac Island, has had a good record of late.
"The whole thing's unfortunate because we've done really good at keeping our name out of the press and keeping out of trouble," he said.
They were looking into other net types when the breach occurred, said Haughton, including a brass version developed in Japan that he called "impenetrable".
When asked if the worker responsible for the breach was terminated, Haughton said that although the company did not ask for that to happen, the person has been let go from the contracting company.
As for the province, the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands confirmed this week they have sent personnel to the site to start an investigation which could take weeks or months.
Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the company could be fined, said a representative.
Environmentalists in the area have said the latest incident demonstrates the need to move the industry to a land-based containment model, as suggested by the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture earlier this year.
"If the provincial government would move forward and implement the recommendations of their self-appointed Committee, negative impacts such as escapes could be drastically reduced," said Maryjka Mychajlowcyz of hte Friends of Clayoquot Sound. "The precious and dwindling wild salmon of BC and Clayoquot Sound should not be exposed to further risks from open net cage salmon farms."
Mychajlowycz also pointed out the farm is licated in a rockfish conservation area, which she thinks should have prevented the farm's tenure from being renewed.
"It's astounding to the common sense lay person," she said.
But Haughton said rockfish are bottom dwellers that rarely come up to where the farms are located (up to about 15 metres below the surface).
He added that he would be open to looking at closed containment, if it were economically feasible and the technology was proven.
"Do we encourage people to look at that? Absolutely. Why not if it's better?" Haughton said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright The Westerly News,
a Canwest Company. Reproduction of this article or photographs, in whole
or in part, is illegal without the written consent of The Westerly News
(westnews@ukeecable.net). The Westerly News is published each Wednesday
in Ucluelet. Phone: 250 726-7029
home > clayoquot/aquaculture > article
