B.C. considers new fish farm technology. Norwegian pilot project underway

Robert Barron
June 2, 2009
Nanaimo Daily News

Opponents of open-net fish farming in B.C. are monitoring a Norwegian pilot project that uses closed containment to raise Atlantic salmon.

Marine biologist Alexandra Morton and members of the Guilford Island First Nation, who filed a class-action lawsuit over the impacts of fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago in October, just returned from a visit to the northern European country where they studied an experiment being conducted by Preline Fish Farming, with the hope that such technology could be used here.

While Bob Chamberlain, chief of the First Nation, acknowledged Monday that the initial costs of the system would likely be twice that of open-net systems, the benefits to the environment and the industry would be long-term.

Agriculture Minister Ron Cantelon said that while the Preline pilot project may be worth watching, it would be "absurd" for the province or DFO to move ahead with experiments in closed-containment systems before the problems such systems are trying to solve are clearly identified.

For the full press release see Marketwire

For related story see the  Nanaimo Daily News

For more information on the Preline closed containment system visit: www.preline.no