Question Period Note: Study on the State of Salmon Aquaculture Technology

• Our government takes the health of salmon and the impacts from salmon aquaculture seriously.
• That is why, in partnership with the Province of British Columbia and Sustainable Development Technology Canada, we commissioned a study on the state of salmon aquaculture technology to examine the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies for salmon farming in BC.
• The study was conducted in close collaboration with an advisory committee representing First Nations, government, industry and philanthropic groups, and is currently being used to inform the development of recommendations regarding the application of emerging technologies.
• The result of the study have been made public.
• We take the impacts of salmon aquaculture seriously and continue to support technologies that improve environmental performance.
• My department’s Alternative Production Technologies Working Group will provide recommendations this winter on emerging technologies, including closed containment.
• Over the last decade, our government has contributed close to $14 million toward the development of various closed containment technologies, and we remain committed to further advancing any technology that reduces the environmental interactions of fish farming and wild fish.

• This study was commissioned and funded by DFO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), and the Province of British Columbia (BC), in consultation with an independent advisory committee. The advisory committee comprised DFO officials, SDTC, the Province of BC, the First Nations Fisheries Council, Tides Canada, and the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
• The study provides a good synthesis of the strengths, weaknesses and uncertainties of four key production systems: land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS); hybrid systems; floating closed containment systems; and, offshore systems.
• While the study remains neutral on technology options, it identified hybrid systems as being the most commercially ready; land-based RAS as outperforming the other systems in reducing interactions with wild salmon and the marine ecosystem; and, acknowledging there are still many unknowns with offshore and floating closed containment systems.
• The study also makes a number of specific recommendations around measures to support technology adoption and aquaculture development in BC including legislative and policy clarity, innovation support, biomass allocation, and financial incentives.
• The study was undertaken by Gardner-Pinfold Consulting Inc., who worked in close collaboration with the advisory committee.
• The late spring of 2019 was targeted for the completion of the study, with the final report to be released publicly by the summer of 2019.
• However, given the diverse range of views amongst committee members, additional time to incorporate the perspectives of the committee into the final draft report was required, which ultimately delayed the project.
• The study is being used to inform work of the Alternative Production Technologies Technical Working Group (TWG), as announced by the Minister on June 4, 2019. The purpose of the TWG is to develop recommendations related to aquaculture management in the Pacific Region.

• The Government’s position has been to be technologically neutral regarding how the aquaculture industry meets Canada’s legislative and regulatory standards that are in place to ensure that aquaculture is sustainable and conducted in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts.
• Considerable and growing interest exists globally for closed containment for salmon aquaculture. This is driven by two primary factors: 1) the desire to reduce interactions with the natural environment; and 2) a desire to increase overall production to meet market demands where traditional production methods are not capable of producing more.
• Closed containment technology remains primarily at an R&D stage and has high capital and energy requirements. Globally, there are currently no examples of commercially viable large-scale salmon aquaculture operations (nothing greater than 1,000 mt) in closed containment, although many are in the planning/building phases.
• Further, there is an international trend toward making investment in and the building of large-scale closed containment facilities in high growth import markets and where infrastructure exists (i.e. US, China, and Norway). To date, these facilities are still either under construction or have not yet completed a full commercial harvest. Completion of several production cycles at full scale will be needed to boost confidence in the long-term viability of this technology.
• Industry has indicated that a move to closed containment would result in the finfish industry moving out of BC (and perhaps out of Canada), closer to the markets it serves or to distribution hubs, as it would no longer require the comparative advantage of the BC coastline.
• On June 4, 2019, the Minister announced the creation of an Indigenous and multi-stakeholder advisory body (IMAB) and three technical working groups to develop recommendations related to aquaculture management, including alternative production technologies.
• The alternative production technologies technical working group (APT TWG) was created to investigate and support the development and adoption of technologies that enhance the sustainability of aquaculture to support the protection and conservation of wild fish in the Pacific Region.
• The APT TWG is expected to provide its recommendations to the Department in the winter of 2020.
• Kuterra, which is owned by the ‘Namgis First Nation, was the first closed containment facility designed and built in North America to pilot the grow-out of Atlantic salmon to market size.
• While the pilot scale facility was only able to operate at a break even point after five years of operation, the proof-of-concept venture was successful in generating large amounts of data and lessons learned on the operation of containment technology for the production of Atlantic salmon.
• Emergent Holdings, parent company of Whole Oceans, a closed containment producer based in Maine, signed a 15 year lease with Kuterra on December 20, 2019. Emergent will use Kuterra to produce Atlantic salmon and as a research and training facility for Whole Oceans’ large Atlantic salmon closed containment project planned to break ground in Bucksport, Maine in the spring of 2020 (projected 25,000 metric tonnes over three phases). It is unclear if Kuterra will be expanded beyond its current production capacity of 250 metric tonnes.
• The Government of Canada, through DFO and Sustainable Development Technology Canada, has invested over $13.7 million in closed containment technology development projects ranging from improving waste management to pilot-scale demonstration facilities such as Kuterra.

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