Marine Harvest Canada was pleased to donate this 15 metre pen system to the Howe Sound Chinook program to assist in salmon enhancement efforts

The Howe Sound Chinook program is a unique program based out of Tenderfoot Creek Hatchery which supports various fisheries in British Columbia. Some of these fisheries include a recreational fishery in Howe Sound, a First Nations fishery in the Cheakamus River, and the program is also know to contribute to the conservation of the depleting Chinook salmon stocks in the Squamish watershed. The original brood stock for this program comprised of Chinook sub-stocks from the Squamish River. These stocks included the Squamish, Ashlu, Mamquam, and Cheakamus Rivers.

These white fleshed Chinook are captured via seine nets at various locations throughout Howe Sound. The Chinook are then transferred from their salt water habitat to the hatchery groundwater ponds where they are held until maturity and then spawned.

In recent years 400,000 to 1,000,000 juvenile Chinook are reared in fresh water and released into sea pens located at Porteau Cove Park just off the Sea to Sky highway.

Before the sea pen rearing, the juvenile Chinook are raised to approximately 3 grams and are vaccinated against Vibrio. Once the fry reach an average of 7.5 grams in size they are transferred to sea pens and reared to 9-15 grams. The juveniles react well to the low salinity levels in Howe Sound and thrive with the plankton blooms in the marine environment. Once the juveniles are released they migrate to the north Pacific and when they return as adults to Howe Sound, they stage for a period of time before dispersing to the Squamish River system.

The pen system was moved from Marine Harvest’s Conville Point site to Squamish in January. It was reassembled at Porteau Cove Park and put to sea this spring just in time for delivery of Chinook smolts

]]> http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/05/17/howe-sound-chinook-program-2/feed/ 0 http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/05/17/response-wasnt-complete/ http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/05/17/response-wasnt-complete/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 17:47:32 +0000 marineharvestcanada http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/?p=1900 Response wasn’t complete
By Ian Roberts, Courier-Islander May 17, 2013

It is unfortunate that Alexandra Morton’s response to my serious concerns about errors and omissions in her documentary film about salmon farming only questions my ethics and principles (“Tools of the trade”, May 8). I would have hoped that a response would have answered my specific concerns.

Again, my concerns about Morton’s documentary are; it seriously doctors the court testimony of a key witness at the Cohen Inquiry; it purposely hides the final fish health lab report that confirms a fish disease to be negative (that is, no disease); it omits to tell the whole story about how Harrison sockeye migrate from the Fraser River. Many other errors are discussed at www.salmonconfidential.com. These errors are very, very significant and an unsuspecting audience should know they are watching a documentary that is not just biased, but fictional.

Yes, Ms. Morton, I do work for salmon farming company Marine Harvest – as my letter clearly stated. I am a College graduate of aquaculture and I have been farming salmon in British Columbia for over 20 years – much of that time helping First Nation partners build their capacity for salmon aquaculture. My depth of knowledge about salmon aquaculture enables me to speak on the topic, which includes recognizing your errors and correcting them. Unfortunately, these corrections and clarifications have become a full-time job lately.

I am very comfortable with my moral principles. These principles apply to how I live my life and the way I communicate my career – and would extend to documentary film making, should I ever produce one.

Ian Roberts Marine Harvest Canada

Patti Fouquette is known as both “The Happy Girl” and “Pollyanna” by all her colleagues at the Port Hardy Processing Plant (PHPP) on northern Vancouver Island. Her ongoing positive attitude has become the foundation of a satisfying life.  “I’m nothing but happiness and bubbles, all the time,” she says. Patti’s salmon farming career began when she needed a break from her art (more about that shortly) and applied at the processing plant after hearing positive things about Marine Harvest. Patti was initially hired as part of the clean-up crew. Seven years later, Patti’s a grader.  “I’m never leaving, I love my job,” she says, adding that “this is the most fun I’ve ever had at work”.

Although Patti was born in Brampton, Ontario, her family was a mobile one. She’s lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Metro Vancouver, where she graduated from high school. When she was a child, Patti spent time in New Brunswick during the summer, staying with her grandparents, whom she remained close to following the death of her mother. “I have lots of great memories of those summers with my cousin and New Brunswick Premier, David Alward,” says Patti.

Patti and her husband Rick have lived on the North Island for 26 years and make their home in Coal Harbour, 15 minutes south of Port Hardy.

Patti Fouquette

The picturesque location of Coal Harbour gives them both the inspiration needed to create one of a kind pieces multi-media pieces focusing on the natural world. “It’s very much a team effort. Rick does the sculpture and firing in the kiln and I paint”. The couple works in clay, metal and wood. Their pieces have sold world-wide. “I have a piece of art on every continent except Antarctica,” said Patti.

Check out Patti and Rick’s art through their Facebook page – The Good Earth Studio. It’s all the proof you’ll need that an optimistic outlook creates beauty.

By Ian Roberts, Communication Manager

When Bubba greeted me at the dock at Glacial Creek farm site, I swear he’d thought we were long lost pals. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we’d never met before. But I soon realized that I wasn’t being treated as special – Bubba just loves life, and probably loves people even more.

Bubba is, well, a pretty special part of the family at Marine Harvest Canada. And because he calls one of the most remote places in British Columbia home, many of his coworkers may never have a chance to meet him. He’s getting on in years now. Depending on who you talk to, Bubba is 12 or 14, or maybe 13.

Bubba became a part of Marine Harvest when he was adopted by Mark Harris at United Hatchery near Fanny Bay. But it soon was apparent that his love for people was not just cute, it was an obsession. Bubba suffers from separation anxiety and when left alone…let’s just say he can quickly remodel the house.  So, after just six months at United, he was welcomed at Glacial Creek site, where he has enjoyed the full time company of staff for the past 8 years.

Aside from being a wonderful greeter, Bubba does have a real job. He is a devout protector of his human companions and has battle scars and bionic joints to prove it. A cougar and a bear have come face to face with Bubba and both challengers were quickly “asked” to leave. It’s a pretty proud moment in Bubba’s life, you can easily tell by the constant grin on his face.

Bubba is in retirement now, but it’s hard to tell based on his determination to make the 500 metre, uphill trek with our tour group toward the water damn. The hike tired him and he was trying his best to hide it.

Staff at Glacial Creek are concerned for Bubba now. His age is showing and they fear he may have one last battle with a much younger challenger or maybe require extra attention that they can’t give him while working all day. Should anything happen to him, he is far from medical help.

So Bubba is looking for a retirement home to live out his remaining years. Perhaps with a fellow retiree who can give him all the attention and care he’ll need.

As long as he’s got the company of a beloved human, that grin is sure to stay.

Bubba was determined to keep up with the group

Bubba

]]> http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/05/03/meet-bubba-a-fish-farmer%e2%80%99s-best-friend/feed/ 0 http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/04/24/donation-tote-ally-appreciated/ http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/2013/04/24/donation-tote-ally-appreciated/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:21:41 +0000 marineharvestcanada http://www.marineharvestcanada.com/blog/?p=1874 Submitted by Terry Fulton, Manager, Willow Point Supportive Living Society

It is wonderful how our local businesses are so generous and supportive of our local non-profit organizations and the people they serve.

Marine Harvest was pleased to donate 12 fish totes to the Willow Point Supportive Living Society in March. The totes will be used for gardening and provide an ideal height for residents to care for vegetables and flowers. Coastline Towing & Transport delivered the totes free of charge.

The totes will never need replacing, contributing to the Forde House philosophy of being environmentally conscious while contributing to Campbell River’s Green City initiative by people raising their own garden food.

Our sincere THANK YOU to all of the Marine Harvest Staff and to Coastline Towing & Transport for making this opportunity a reality from the Board and Staff of Willow Point Supportive Living Society and the residents of Forde House.

Pictured: Terry Fulton, Roger King (Marine Harvest), Cathy White, Charlotte (resident), Mike Hammond (Coastline Towing and Transport), Paul Kendrick (Marine Harvest) and his mom and resident Vivian.

But as it turns out, travelling to Bergen, Norway was very much worth it.

Lauren had travelled to Bergen in early March because she was nominated for the “Community Ambassador” award at the 2013 IntraFish Aquaculture Awards. Fish farmers had gathered from around the world to celebrate aquaculture, network and reward ‘special’ people working in the industry.

Lauren Edgar

And Lauren won. “I’m so happy to receive this award and have the honour of representing my company Marine Harvest, my family in Klemtu and Canadian aquaculture,” said Lauren after the awards.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Lauren began working for Marine Harvest Canada in 2007 at age 22. Over the years, and in addition to working hard as a salmon farm technician, she has leant her voice and image to salmon farming – a business that has helped her hometown of Klemtu move from an era of over-fishing and limited economic opportunity toward one of sustainable and diverse development.

“I feel like I’m paying it back,” says Lauren. “If my voice can help educate the public about the benefits of farm-raised salmon, I’m more than happy to do it.”

Her hometown of Klemtu, a remote coastal village in British Columbia with about 400 inhabitants, is only accessible by boat or plane.

The people of Klemtu are known as Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation peoples, and have been salmon farming since the mid-1980s. The Nation asked to partner with Marine Harvest Canada in 1998, to ensure their salmon aquaculture business would be able to compete in a very competitive global market. Since salmon farming began, unemployment in the village has been reduced from 90 per cent to about 40 per cent. Today, about 60 Kitasoo/Xai’xais members farm, process and package 10 million pounds of Atlantic salmon yearly.

To show her support of her chosen career, Lauren has appeared in numerous print ads, sustainability reports, educational videos and was featured in the BBC News produced segment titled “Working Lives”.

Marine Harvest would like to congratulate Lauren on this very deserving award.

There is an un-credited quote that states “timing is everything – in business and in life”. If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you’d probably agree. So would Marine Harvest Canada’s (MHC) Port Hardy Production Manager, Darren Ingersoll.

In February 2012, Darren was looking to replace a 12 person crew boat that shuttled crew to and from ocean-based salmon farm sites near Port Hardy, British Columbia.  MHC farms had been supplied by a company-owned vessel, but Darren was looking to outsource the service.

At the same time the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw Nations (GNN) was looking for an anchor customer to help secure a new marine services and tourism business – GNN Marine Services.  

“In retrospect, the timing couldn’t have been better,” says GNN’s Economic Development Officer Conrad Browne.

GNN Marine Services

A business relationship was not new to the company or Nations, as they have enjoyed an ongoing partnership agreement since 2000. A commitment of this agreement is to help support economic opportunities within GNN’s Traditional Territory.   

Conrad and Darren met to discuss the potential business to business relationship and decided to give it a three month trial beginning in the summer of 2012.

A few things were required first – most importantly a boat and skipper. So GNN Marine purchased “Gordies Girl”, a 28 foot, 12 seat crew boat. A total refit was required and was done locally at Progressive Diesel in Port McNeill. “GNN went over and above what is required for vessel comfort” adds Conrad, “but the final product was well worth it.”

At the same time this Coast Guard certified vessel was secured, the Nations began training several band members. Today there are two full-time, licensed operators.

Business operations and operator safety and conduct are overlooked by Angela Smith, a resident of Port Hardy.

“We began providing service to Marine Harvest in July of 2012,” says Angela, “and the boat is now busy four days a week shuttling crew and supplies to the salmon farms in the area.”  

The year-round service required by MHC has helped GNN expand their marine services business to include two boats and to further develop their eco-tourism business – Nakwakto Rapids Tours. The wildlife and cultural tour includes a run of Nakwakto Rapids – the tidal rapids peak at 30 km per hour – making it the world’s fastest navigable tidal surge according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

“It’s a win-win-win,” says Darren. “GNN Marine Services has a core customer and we have a solid, reliable and safe service that can also provide North Island communities with valuable marine services and tourism opportunities.

To read more about Nakwakto Rapids or to book a trip, you can visit www.nakwaktorapidstours.com

Re: “Plenty of evidence” (Mirror, March 27)

I have to say that I am glad that we live in a society that allows us public expression of our opinion without fear of ridicule.

However, if you are going to accuse industry operators of issues such as contributing to the extinction of wild salmon then I would please ask you to make sure you have your facts straight.

I have been working in the industry for over 25 years (in the field), and have seen first hand that these “diseases” you speak of were endemic to the environment, meaning that they were always there.

As far as “muzzling,” any time that we bring forward empirical scientific data to support our position Ms. (Alexandra) Morton refuses to acknowledge it. It makes for a hostile environment when one side of the debate is not even willing to hear scientific evidence brought forward by leading authorities.

I personally have no issue with members of the general public voicing concerns over issues of environmental impact.  As a matter of fact, I see it as an excellent opportunity to gain a different perspective which may help us to improve/modify our practises to lessen our impact on the environment.

I do take offence however, with the minority of malcontents that want to generate an atmosphere of hostility through emotional appeal and rhetoric.

As mentioned earlier, I have been working in the industry for over 25 years and have seen it constantly evolving, improving practises to lessen environmental impact.

I also think that it is entirely possible to be a salmon farmer and an environmentalist.

I am proud to say that I contribute to providing a safe, healthy alternative to wild salmon.

Can Ms. Morton make that claim?

Marc Wouters, Campbell River

Due to its recent description in science and the availability of new testing methods, PRV is relatively new to fish health research (Palacios et al, PloS One 5(7): 2010).  So far, study indicates that in British Columbia (BC) it occurs in wild salmonids (K. Miller[i], R. Routledge[ii]) and farm-raised salmon (G. Marty[iii]).

PRV was first identified in Norway, but that does not mean that it has newly appeared in BC; only that our ability to detect it is new. Nor does its subsequent discovery in BC imply that it was transferred here. It is just as likely to have been here but previously undetected.

Despite some claims, it is incorrect to state that PRV is known to be the causal agent of Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI). If that were true, most or all fish with abundant PRV would also have HSMI. In Norway, fish with HSMI often have PRV, but many fish with PRV never develop HSMI.  PRV is present in fish in BC, but no farm-raised or wild salmon have been diagnosed with HSMI. The records released during the Cohen Commission’s Inquiry into Fraser River sockeye also support this view. 

There is some debate about the relation of PRV and HSMI in Norway, but even recent papers there state that detection of PRV alone does not establish an HSMI diagnosis (Garseth et al. Journal of Fisheries Research: 2012).  If PRV was capable of causing harm to our fish or having the potential to cause harm to wild salmon we would take immediate steps to eliminate the virus.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency do not have PRV on the list of reportable diseases/pathogens. At the present time PRV appears to be a benign virus that may have been long present in the world’s oceans.

The practices and fish health records of fish monitoring presented by BC salmon farmers at the Cohen Inquiry impressed the authors of Technical Reports 5A-D and led Justice Cohen to recommend that fish health data reporting continue in order to remove any limitation on determining statistical correlation imposed by the existing 6 year time series. We are continuing to report fish health information towards the additional 10 years of data that the Cohen report recommended.

Marine Harvest is a participant in the new Genome BC project that aims to “explore the transmission dynamics and historical presence of detected microbes, with key focus on microbes that are suspected globally to be causing disease in salmon”. We are pleased to be an active participant in this work as we respect and value the health of both the fish we produce, and the wild fish that inhabit the waters and the environment.

Sean, who joined Marine Harvest in 2009 after a career as a sports fishing guide, started as a deckhand on workboats. He enjoyed it but wanted to be closer to the fish. When an opportunity for a farm site position came up, Sean applied and shortly after, started at Midsummer, then moved to Larsen Island, and then to Swanson Island, where he’s currently a Farm Technician. “At Swanson, we pay attention to details and I like that. I love being on the

Fish Like Me, Sean Fredriksen

water and watching the fish grow”.

Sean and his wife Denise, who have been married for three years and have a blended family with three kids, live north of Courtenay in the Dove Creek area. They own and operate Wildwood Stables, one of the few full-care horse boarding and indoor arena equestrian centres in the Comox Valley. Denise is a hunter/jumper trainer and the Centre also regularly hosts clinics, events and arena rental.

Sean’s enjoyment of the outdoors and fishing in particular, as well as his interest and talent in drawing has led him on a new adventure – he’s now a published author. “I use India ink and pastels,” he explains, adding that a fishing trip with his youngest son was the inspiration for a series of sketches.  “My youngest son went to school and told his friends that his step-dad had written a book about him,” explains Sean. After that, he wrote the story and chose to self-publish through Xlibris in 2010. 

Check out Sean’s book, Fish Like Me.  Customers world-wide have bought Sean’s book and an e-book version will be available next year. In the meantime, Fish Like Me will be part of an LA-based book expo in February. Sean is currently working on a second book about his step-daughter and her horse.