Thanks to Ann Vansnick for organizing a March break get-away for some lucky Sayward Valley residents. A group of 11 local kids and parents visited Ann’s son, Mike Fitzgerald, who works at the Marine Harvest salmon farm just south of Hardwicke Island. The wide-eyed tourists were treated to a lunch which included some Hardy Buoys Candied Salmon Nuggets.
As one young fella commented, the trip was “sick” (we think that means he had a good time).
Dear Marine Harvest:
On behalf of our tour team, Reg, Doug, Jack, Art, Larry, John and myself, we would like to thank you many times over for the most impressive and informative trip we have experienced. The whole team now has a positive appreciation of what the salmon farming industry represents in terms of environmental, social and economic concerns. They have asked me to express to you, their heartfelt thanks in helping to open their eyes to the misrepresentations that they have read and heard from the media. Reg probably said it the best: “It is the cleanest industry I have ever seen”, in reference to the Marine Harvest hatchery, farms and processing facilities. They were all very impressed with the Port Hardy Processing Plant and especially when they watched the fish being pumped out of the Serena Joye without any sea lice. Actually, Doug was a bit disappointed because he was led to believe that the salmon would be covered with sea lice and he counted only one in the hundreds of fish he watched being unloaded.
I think we were all very impressed by the fact that you didn’t try to persuade us either way and allowed us to see every aspect of the operation and allowed us to form our own opinions.
Without reservation, our tour of the Marine Harvest facilities was positive and enlightening. I would appreciate it if you would extend our sincere thanks to all those who made our visit such a great experience.
We are all having farm-raised Atlantic salmon for dinner tonight!
Warm regards,
Jerry Lang, VP
Goldstream Hatchery Volunteers Association
By Grant Warkentin – Campbell River Mirror http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/campbellrivermirror/news/45748237.html
George Minosky (from right) with the food bank is glad he kept his forklift operator’s licence up-to-date after Marine Harvest (represented by Ian Roberts) donated a forklift to the charity. Owen Green, Marine Harvest’s logistics co-ordinator, masterminded the donation but was unavailable for the photo.
When Dale Blackburn, a volunteer at the food bank, learned the charity was unloading truckloads of food by hand, he decided to give his former employer a call.
Not long afterwards, George and Ann Minosky, who manage the food bank, were thrilled when Marine Harvest donated a used forklift. Now they don’t have to unload semi-trailer loads of food by hand, he said.
The food bank receives regular shipments of dry food goods from the Vancouver-based Canadian Food Bank Association to keep the shelves full. But it’s been tough work to unload the trucks, Minosky said. The forklift will make the job easier and will put drivers at ease that they won’t have to wait around while their trucks are being unloaded.
It might also encourage them to increase the shipments, he added.
Blackburn used to be Marine Harvest’s general manager until he retired. He contacted Owen Green, Marine Harvest’s logistics co-ordinator, who donated the forklift, formerly used in Marine Harvest’s warehouse at the Duncan Bay terminal.
The Sidney Anglers Association enjoyed a tour of Marine Harvest Canada’s salmon hatchery, salmon farm and processing plant in May. Day one of this tour included a full tour of Dalrymple salmon hatchery, hosted by hatchery manager Craig Schelter. Later that day, they travelled to Hardwicke Island salmon farm to join Mike Fitzgerald to learn about how salmon are raised on the farm. On day two, the group was welcomed by Tanya Romas at Marine Harvest’s Port Hardy Processing Plant to see how the fully grown salmon are carefully processed, graded and packaged for the market. Finally, the group stopped by Hardy Buoys Smoked Fish plant in Port Hardy to see how the salmon are smoked and cured for specialty markets.
If you are part of a group that may have an interest in visiting Marine Harvest’s facilities, please contact our tour manager, Ian Roberts, at tours@marineharvestcanada.com
Submitted by Paul Rickard, Coordinator of the Pink Project for the Cowichan Bay Improvement Society (2008-2009)
Off the end of the dock in a seapen (donated by Marine Harvest) 250,000 pink salmon were being fed for release on April 5th.
Early in 2007, the Cowichan Bay Improvement Association decided to develop a Pink Salmon Net Pen Project to bring some fishing back to Cowichan Bay. Graeme Bull, a Marine Harvest employee who lives and works in Port Hardy, is also a member of the sport fishing community. He had heard about our project and our need for some equipment and gave us a call. Graeme got a welder up in Port Hardy to work on a surplus Marine Harvest 20 foot by 20 foot cage. Graeme also located a net at a local hatchery. We paid the welding costs, the cost of the net and had both items transported down to Cowichan. Without Graeme’s help, I don’t think we would have been able to start up so well. In Cowichan Bay, we soon met Garth and Doris Riggins who have their live aboard moored almost beside the net pen site at the Bluenose Marina. Garth and Doris operate Marine Harvest’s Freshwater Farms hatchery. We knew almost nothing about feeding, checking on fish health, and measuring dissolved oxygen. With their help and supervision, we soon became “experts” (well almost). Because we need help to feed these young fish, the community pitched in, keeping a logbook of feeding up to date. At the end of the day, Doris and Garth would check the book, and always do the last evening feeding for us, every day! This year Garth gave me updates on the growth of the fish, and kept checking the dissolved oxygen levels at the end of the five week project when we were concerned about net fouling. This is truly a community project, with parents and children coming down to watch and feed the fry, along with the fairly large live aboard community in Cowichan Bay, who really adopted our fish. Garth, Doris and Graeme have made a particularly valuable addition to our project, and are clearly part of our Cowichan Community.
More photos available at http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/sustainability_protecting_wild_fish.php
