Marine Harvest’s innovative new conceptual designs for salmon farms could be coming to Canada.
One of its new designs, termed “The Egg,” is a floating, self-supported and closed oval that is described as “escape-proof,” and extends 40 meters below the ocean’s surface. The enclosure is designed to limit interaction between the farmed salmon on the inside and the wild salmon on the outside, and would prevent sea lice because it pulls in ocean water from 26 meters, which is a depth where the parasites are unable to exist, according to Marine Harvest.
Using this design would avoid the expensive, land-based fish farming method while still posing less of a risk to native fish. Avoiding the expense of land-based fish farms is no small feat; they can use anywhere from 500 to 1,000 times more energy than their aquatic-based counterparts, and that additional cost is often passed on to the consumer.
The design is still being built and tested in Norway, where Marine Harvest is based, but if it proves viable, it will then be available – and specifically where salmon are already farmed, in places such as British Columbia, according to Marine Harvest Canada spokesman Jeremy Dunn, as reported by the Vancouver Sun.
In the current design being tested by Marine Harvest, the company has been able to grow 200,000 salmon in a single closed tank, according to the Sun.
“[Canada’s] coastline offers us a huge advantage, and technology can help us utilize that marine environment,” Dunn said. “When these technologies are proven to work, they are quickly deployed and adopted all over the world.”
Backing its effort to grow its aquaculture operation in Canada, Marine Harvest Canada has hired a new lobbyist who will focus on licencing and tenure policy of salmon farming in British Columbia. Gordon Quaiattini of Maple Leaf Strategies, who previously represented Agri Food Canada and has experience lobbying on behalf of the aquaculture industry, formarlly registered as a lobbyist for Marine Harvest Canada, as well as for Cermaq Canada, according to iPolitics.ca.
Image courtesy of Marine Harvest
