NS land-based salmon farms safe from disease outbreak
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2, 2018
NS land-based salmon farms safe from disease outbreak
Infectious salmon anemia outbreak hits smolts destined for sea-cages
HALIFAX – The Atlantic Salmon Federation has confirmed that Nova Scotia’s two land-based salmon aquaculture companies were not affected by a recent outbreak of virulent infectious salmon anemia (ISA), a deadly fish disease that kills up to 90 per cent of infected salmon and can be transmitted to other wild species like Atlantic herring, rainbow trout, brown trout, and Arctic char.
“We have confirmed with executives of Sustainable Blue and Cape d’Or Sustainable Seafoods that they are free of this disease,” said Bill Taylor, President of the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
A statement on Thursday from the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture said that two ‘land-based aquaculture facilities’ had been hit with virulent ISA resulting in the destruction of 600,000 salmon smolts.
“It’s unfortunate because the wording of this statement allowed some people to leap to false conclusions,” said Taylor. “In fact the affected facilities were likely producing fish destined for open net-pen sea cages in Atlantic Canada.”
Sustainable Blue, located in Centre Burlington, and Cape d’Or in Advocate Harbour, produce Atlantic salmon in egg-to-plate, recirculating aquaculture systems. Both companies are on the leading edge of a global shift from open net-pen sea cages to environmentally sustainable, land-based production.
“Around the world, growth of the open net-pen industry has slowed dramatically as companies have hit the biological limit of what oceans can handle, and the limits of social acceptance,” said Lewis Hinks, ASF’s program director for Nova Scotia. “As a result, closed-containment aquaculture is taking off.”
Two large-scale closed containment salmon projects were recently announced in the state of Maine, and another is being developed in Florida. A 2017 report from DNB Markets, a Norwegian investment bank, identified 20 closed containment salmon projects in various stages of development globally that could combine for 150,000 tonnes of production by 2020, a figure that rivals Canada’s current sea-cage production.
Read about the Maine announcements here:
1. Nordic Aquafarms:
http://www.nordicaquafarms.com/portfolio_page/nordic-aquafarms-announces-a-major-land-based-aquaculture-facility-for-atlantic-salmon-in-maine-usa/
2. Whole Oceans: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whole-oceans-to-grow-atlantic-salmon-with-land-based-aquaculture-operation---purchases-mill-site-in-bucksport-maine-300603222.html
Read the DNB Markets report here: http://www.kuterra.com/files/1... more information contact:
Neville Crabbe – ASF Communications
ncrabbe@asf.ca
1-506-467-6804
MARCH 2, 2018
NS land-based salmon farms safe from disease outbreak
Infectious salmon anemia outbreak hits smolts destined for sea-cages
HALIFAX – The Atlantic Salmon Federation has confirmed that Nova Scotia’s two land-based salmon aquaculture companies were not affected by a recent outbreak of virulent infectious salmon anemia (ISA), a deadly fish disease that kills up to 90 per cent of infected salmon and can be transmitted to other wild species like Atlantic herring, rainbow trout, brown trout, and Arctic char.
“We have confirmed with executives of Sustainable Blue and Cape d’Or Sustainable Seafoods that they are free of this disease,” said Bill Taylor, President of the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
A statement on Thursday from the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture said that two ‘land-based aquaculture facilities’ had been hit with virulent ISA resulting in the destruction of 600,000 salmon smolts.
“It’s unfortunate because the wording of this statement allowed some people to leap to false conclusions,” said Taylor. “In fact the affected facilities were likely producing fish destined for open net-pen sea cages in Atlantic Canada.”
Sustainable Blue, located in Centre Burlington, and Cape d’Or in Advocate Harbour, produce Atlantic salmon in egg-to-plate, recirculating aquaculture systems. Both companies are on the leading edge of a global shift from open net-pen sea cages to environmentally sustainable, land-based production.
“Around the world, growth of the open net-pen industry has slowed dramatically as companies have hit the biological limit of what oceans can handle, and the limits of social acceptance,” said Lewis Hinks, ASF’s program director for Nova Scotia. “As a result, closed-containment aquaculture is taking off.”
Two large-scale closed containment salmon projects were recently announced in the state of Maine, and another is being developed in Florida. A 2017 report from DNB Markets, a Norwegian investment bank, identified 20 closed containment salmon projects in various stages of development globally that could combine for 150,000 tonnes of production by 2020, a figure that rivals Canada’s current sea-cage production.
Read about the Maine announcements here:
1. Nordic Aquafarms:
http://www.nordicaquafarms.com/portfolio_page/nordic-aquafarms-announces-a-major-land-based-aquaculture-facility-for-atlantic-salmon-in-maine-usa/
2. Whole Oceans: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whole-oceans-to-grow-atlantic-salmon-with-land-based-aquaculture-operation---purchases-mill-site-in-bucksport-maine-300603222.html
Read the DNB Markets report here: http://www.kuterra.com/files/1... more information contact:
Neville Crabbe – ASF Communications
ncrabbe@asf.ca
1-506-467-6804
