The ‘Namgis First Nation, on eastern Vancouver Island, is preparing to open the first commercial-scale, land-based Atlantic salmon farm in Canada. Their aim is to prove economic viability in raising Atlantic salmon in tanks on land, rather than open net-cages floating in the ocean. The project is being watched by conservation groups and the salmon-farming industry, which has long maintained that land-based aquaculture is not economically feasible.
The ‘Namgis have watched open net-cage fish farms proliferate in the Broughton Archipelago, and believe that diseases and pollution from the farms are killing wild runs of salmon. They see the $8.5-million closed-containment project as an environmentally superior alternative.
The full Victoria Times-Colonist article is here.
