Hope springs from the darndest places – a government report -can you believe it?

The BC Committee recommends that:

1.1 A rapid, phased transition to ocean-based closed containment begin immediately. Within three years ocean-based closed containment must be developed. Once developed, industry must transition to this technology within the subsequent two years.

1.2 To meet the initial three year deadline, the provincial government, in partnership with the federal government and the salmon aquaculture industry, must urgently finance and conduct a full commercial-scale ocean-based closed containment project.

1.3 The provincial government should develop and provide incentives to the aquaculture industry to facilitate the transition to ocean-based closed containment technology.

Get ready for a barrage of spin from media and fish farms. Oh the jobs that fish farms provide… Oh that NDP-dominated committee… The industry could never survive closed containment… BC will not be able to stay competitive in the global farm fish market if they must use closed containment… Quality of the fish can’t be maintained in concrete pens…Closed containment is really no better environmentally than open net since BC has such stringent rules already…Raising fish in concrete pens is not humane…The technology is unproven…We’re not against it, it just can’t be implemented yet…The cost, the cost, the cost, we’ll have to lay workers off, we can’t be competitive, we need government subsidies…

“It’s a report designed to shut the industry down” says Ron Cantelon, a Liberal MLA (Nanaimo-Parksville) [1]

B.C. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Pat Bell has said he would not feel bound by the committee’s recommendations. [2] Surprise. Surprise.

The BC Legislative Assembly Aquaculture Report

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia:
Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture Final Report Volume 1

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia:
Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture Final Report Volume 2

Articles worth reading.
Aquaculture’s Troubled Harvest | Wild salmon at risk | Fish farms that don’t harm

1. Times Colonist – 16 May 2007
2. CBC News – 16 May 2007