Farmed salmon is BC's largest Agri Product and a significant contributor to our local economies.
Farmed salmon is raised naturally. That means no hormones or genetic modification to enhance growth.
Medications are never used preventatively or near harvest time.
We take steps to reduce stress on our fish.
In the Pacific Northwest, Atlantic salmon have not taken over rivers forcing out native salmon.
Salmon are incredibly efficient eaters.
Salmon farms employ thousands of workers in BC's coastal region.
Farmed salmon is the only way we can get fresh salmon year round.
Farmed salmon is a healthy food choice that's available fresh all year round.
Salmon farming is the most regulated agricultural industry in British Columbia.
Salmon farm locations are selected for their low environmental impact.
Atlantic salmon and sockeye salmon differ in colour because they're different species.
Farmed salmon are vaccinated to prevent disease and rarely need additional medications.
We don't dye farmed salmon. The colour comes from an important ingredient in their food.
Farmed salmon are rich in heart-healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
Farmers work to protect wild salmon from sea lice.
Salmon farming provides real economic and social benefits to First Nations people.
Salmon feed is designed specifically to conserve wild fish stocks.
Farmers work with scientists to maintain fish health.
Farmed salmon are mistreated and are raised in a stressful environment.
Farmed salmon is genetically modified and contains growth hormones.
Salmon farms can be located anywhere, even in environmentally sensitive areas.
Salmon farm information is highly guarded and not available to the public.
Farmed salmon is bad for you.
Sea lice come from farmed salmon and devastate wild salmon stocks.
Farmed salmon consume more food in order to grow than the amount of food they produce for human consumption.
Farmed salmon contain medicines that are harmful for human consumption.
Salmon farmers can do whatever they want and routinely ignore loose government regulations.
Escaped farmed salmon take over local river systems forcing out native wild salmon.
There are no nutritional benefits realized from eating farmed salmon.
The process of salmon farming severely depletes wild fish stocks.
18 Comments
BC Salmon Facts says
Hi Barry, BC salmon farmers don’t use lights to attract fish. Lights may be used to prevent early maturation of the farm stock (called photo-manipulation). Salmon farms will only use lights for the first few months of saltwater entry, which continues the light regime they were on at the hatchery. Lights are not generally used for the final year of growth (when our fish are at their largest size).
The concern of lights/predation has in fact been studied over the years. DFO (D.E. Hay, E.A. Black, D.J. Gillis, B.A. Bravender) have published studies in 1992, 1996 and 2004.
Here is link to the 2004 study which is posted on the DFO website -bit.ly/hPBKhh - the conclusion being, "There were no obvious differences in the consumption of wild organisms among the sites, and lights had no apparent effect on the consumption of wild food".
There are studies on this subject that continue today. A BC company is soon to study the effects of LED vs Metal halide lights on farmed and non-target fish.
Sep 1 2011 12:57 PM
Barry Corrigan says
besides the virus problems that seem to be more prevelant since the introduction of containment systems; my concern is for the escapement of smolts that inhabit the coastal waters for a couple of years before going to sea and are attracted into the pens by means of the lights installed under water that aid their cameras. this practice is referred to in the fishing regulations as poaching
Aug 31 2011 12:11 PM
BC Salmon Facts says
Hi Joe, fish health information, including information about diseases, has always been publicly available via reports published regularly by the provincial government: bit.ly/gIFBXk
The issue you are referring to is a freedom of information request filed last year for years worth of "raw data" from farm companies (data which had already been made available to the province), and the salmon farmers' concerns about releasing that data to the public. The concern was that the information represented isolated snapshots of farm health and that raw data can be easily manipulated. The BC Salmon Farmers Association and Association of Aquaculture Veterinarians of BC expressed concerns, and the AAVBC expressed frustration that confidentiality agreements were being broken and said it set a troubling standard for other agricultural industries in the province.
However, the information was released and only served to prove the success of the fish health program as it stands. The data confirmed the outcomes of the provincial government's annual reports.
To answer your second question, last spring, with the transfer of authority over aquaculture from the province to federal government pending, the provincial government was winding down its aquaculture monitoring and the federal government was not yet ready to take it over. The companies wanted to maintain consistency and transparency, and continue monitoring and publishing fish health information, so they contracted the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences in Campbell River to do it on an interim basis. The Q3 and Q4 information is published at their site: bit.ly/fSoqsZ
Feb 16 2011 12:04 PM
Joe says
As an addendum. Why is it that the MAL Animal Health Branch - Fish Health Report includes no information on fish lice and carcass testing from Q2 onward. Wait I know. It is because the fish farmers refused to allow access or provide live and dead fish for testing. Why would you do that if everything is so rosy?
Feb 16 2011 10:13 AM