B.C. Aquaculture Industry Urges ‘Balanced’ Approach to Fish Farms
October 13, 2023 | 1 min to read
B.C. aquaculture technology companies and suppliers, including those with land-based systems, are appealing to Canada’s new Fisheries minister, Diane Lebouthillier, for a balanced and science-based approach to salmon farming. They warn that an outright ban on open-net salmon farming could severely impact the aquaculture sector, disrupting a 40-year ecosystem that supports numerous jobs and a wide range of industries, from feed suppliers to transportation networks.
B.C. aquaculture technology companies and suppliers, including one that builds land-based rearing systems, are urging Canada’s new Fisheries minister, Diane Lebouthillier, to take a “balanced” and science-based approach to the subject of salmon farms in B.C.
A wholesale shut-down of open-net salmon farming would be devastating for the aquaculture sector as a whole, they say, including land-based aquaculture, because there is a whole supply chain and support sector that might be lost.
“This ecosystem has evolved over 40 years of production, which includes coastal and Indigenous jobs, expertise, production of smolts (young fish), feed and nutrition suppliers, animal health practitioners and health product suppliers, scientists, transportation and retail networks, etc.,” say a group of 11 B.C. companies in a letter to Lebouthillier.
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