A solution/innovation in the salmon farming world

[btree]

This is a re-posting of my reply to Phearless's article on the lawsuits regarding salmon farming. I figure it will get more readership if I post it twice. It's something I'd consider getting into if I were more of a businessman, plus it would be on the road to taking the pressure off our wild stocks in a better way that farming the way it's happening now.

There is a prof at SFU who has found a way to farm sockeye in fresh water on land (not in lakes). There have been a few stories on the news (Global/BCTV & CBC last year and the year before).

According to his studies, Sockeye are the hardest to farm because they are so sensitive to so many factors, he found a way to raise them with great success and very little environmental impact.

the following is taken from this website http://www.sfu.ca/aq/archives/Nov200...ish_story.html

Larry Albright is proposing a daring alternative – freshwater-farmed salmon. The professor emeritus is the first salmon farmer in North America to raise Pacific sockeye salmon through several sequential life cycles in enclosed freshwater facilities.

At a Langley salmon and trout freshwater fish farm that he co-owns, Albright plucks a four-pound sparkling sockeye from a tank fed from an Artesian well and cradles it in his arms. The fish is one of 3,000 domesticated descendants of several wild sockeye that Albright started culturing in fresh water 16 years ago.

The jury is still out on whether any scientist can design the definitive life raft to rescue diseased and diminishing fish stocks.

The showpiece in Albright’s arms, and its siblings, went on to spawn in the summer. Last year Albright became the proud adoptive father of 50,000 juvenile freshwater sockeye hatched from the eggs of another group of freshwater-reared sockeye.

At SFU, Albright ’s lab was the first to describe the complete life cycle of the sea louse, but today the marine microbiologist admits to having the heart of a businessman beating beneath his lab coat. His success at growing disease-free sockeye that need no antibiotics (something that remains a challenge for ocean-based fish farms) may just help Albright turn a profit in his retirement.

But Albright’s success goes far beyond any financial gain. As he told the provincial special committee on sustainable aquaculture, there are other benefits to freshwater farming besides rearing problem-free salmon. “It makes a smaller ecological footprint – occupying less than an acre of land compared with the larger areas of coastline consumed by seawater farms,” said Albright, who is currently chair of the B.C. Freshwater Aquaculture Association.


So, back to me again-
There are lots of people in on this research, not just Larry, and the article is much longer online, but...

Looks like there is hope on the horizon, and perhaps there should be a moritorium on salmon farming until the issues of disease can be solved. Obviously people need to eat, and people like to eat salmon- that market demand will not go away.
Ideally, one day people will consume mostly farmed salmon (ones not pumped full of drugs and crap) and leave the wild ones for the bears and sportfishers.

any way, just thought it would be an interesting tidbit.

bt

[phearless]

Thanks for the informative post btree.
Sockeye make sense to me.
A big Kokanee Yum.
Now to get something going.
Can we do a group buy of Mr. Albrights farmed fish to help out?
I could be talked into that.
Cosumers drive everything. If we want Fish raised in freshwater containment,
then we shall have it!

[btree]

I have no idea how to buy into the technology. There are a few articles out there, but I bet contacting SFU or the research team would give the answeres.

I'm not really an expert on this, your post and the previous petition against pacific salmon farms re: sea lice kick started my memory about something I saw on TV a while ago, so i googled "SFU + Sockey Farming" and looked though a few sites and found what I posted. I'm sure there is more info out there if you google the guy.

I'm applying to go back to school at VIU to take their Aquaculture and Fisheries Diploma program- hope that puts me on a career path that lets me help the fish, and perhaps learn more about the cutthroat program they have at VIU.

Any who, back to dreaming about Kalum steelhead which I hope to catch in a few months.

bt

Thanks for the informative post btree.
Sockeye make sense to me.
A big Kokanee Yum.
Now to get something going.
Can we do a group buy of Mr. Albrights farmed fish to help out?
I could be talked into that.
Cosumers drive everything. If we want Fish raised in freshwater containment,
then we shall have it!

[professori]

Thanks for the informative post btree.
Can we do a group buy of Mr. Albrights farmed fish to help out?

Thanks for the informative post btree.
Sockeye make sense to me.
A big Kokanee Yum.
Now to get something going.
Can we do a group buy of Mr. Albrights farmed fish to help out?

Not really. Larry has all of his Sockeye stocks for the next 2 to 3 years already sold to Asian buyers. You might to be able to purchase his trout (I'm not sure). Friends of mine from SFU went for a tour of Larry's facility in September (I had a meeting I couldn't duck, so missed out) and at the end had a trout barbeque. The facility is very impressive from all reports. He feeds all natural products (but not classified as "organic") with no anti-biotics or hormones. This is a technology that could be used throughout the aquaculture industry if it were only legislated.

[SalaR]

Good on you Ben...we need the enthusiasm ,and the program at VIU is excellent and becoming even better...so many of us older farts simply bitch and have had our name on so many petitions the supposed powers that be simply sluff us off..
C

I have no idea how to buy into the technology. There are a few articles out there, but I bet contacting SFU or the research team would give the answeres.

I'm not really an expert on this, your post and the previous petition against pacific salmon farms re: sea lice kick started my memory about something I saw on TV a while ago, so i googled "SFU + Sockey Farming" and looked though a few sites and found what I posted. I'm sure there is more info out there if you google the guy.

I'm applying to go back to school at VIU to take their Aquaculture and Fisheries Diploma program- hope that puts me on a career path that lets me help the fish, and perhaps learn more about the cutthroat program they have at VIU.

Any who, back to dreaming about Kalum steelhead which I hope to catch in a few months.

bt