Advocates of closed containment technology for salmon aquaculture are excited by a Department of Fisheries and Oceans report affirming the economic viability of the practice.
“This new study shows that closed containment salmon farming is economically viable, something we have said for years,” said David Lane of T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation and the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform.
The feasibility study of closed containment options for the British Columbia aquaculture industry recognizes that land-based recirculation aquaculture systems are likely to show positive returns and that once the technology becomes more widely adopted within the sector, capital and operating costs may continue to go down.
Industry has already signaled an interest in closed containment fish farming. (See “Aquaculture overhaul on B.C.’s menu” – issue 1072; May 11-17.)
Large fish farmers such as Marine Harvest Canada have long criticized DFO for having cumbersome licensing procedures. DFO, in turn, has vowed to simplify its licensing restrictions.
When Marine Harvest again applies for a licence, said its director of environmental compliance Clare Backman, the company will likely apply for a new category of salmon production: closed containment grown on land.