The aquaculture of tomorrow may be land-based

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

CBC News reports that a closed-containment facility on Vancouver Island has become the first in North America to grow Atlantic salmon on a commercial scale in an entirely land-based aquaculture system. The Namgis closed-containment project may prove to be a game-changer for the 30-year-old Canadian aquaculture industry.

The first batch of Namgis salmon will be harvested this month, one year after entering the system. Steve Summerfelt, technical advisor to the Namgis project, told the CBC that land-reared salmon grow to market size "six to nine months sooner than in a net-pen . . . and we get very good survival."

Salmon grown in the traditional offshore floating net-pens are susceptible to parasitic outbreaks of sea lice and other diseases, which must be treated with costly pesticides and antibiotics. These are not needed in a land-based system, where everything is controlled.

Land-based fish farms could operate anywhere in the country, including the Prairies. And Namgis project community liaison Jackie Hildering even sees a market for the salmon's nutrient-rich manure to be sold as fertilizer.

These prospects could potentially mitigate the increased costs for infrastructure, water and electricity that go along with land-based aquaculture. Currently, the CBC reports that market projections suggest as much as a 30 per cent mark-up for land-reared salmon. Despite this, Hildering reports that a significant number of their fish are already pre-sold, highlighting consumer interest in an antibiotic- and pesticide-free product.

"We're just with the pioneers . . . young industries that are just starting to grow," Summerfelt says. BF