The final quarters of 2011 show continued low numbers of incidental catch by BC’s salmon farmers - numbers that show they are very near their goal of eliminating this interaction with wild fish completely.
In the third and fourth quarters of 2011, the amount of bycatch from BC’s salmon farms represented less than 0.005% and 0.006% of the industry’s harvest, according to numbers released by the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
That number includes all incidental catch that died during harvests in 2011. When including any bycatch that was caught and live released, the percentages reach 0.017% and 0.022%.
“These farmers are aware of the public concerns for ocean conservation and protection and have enacted successful measures to reduce incidental catch,” said Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the BCSFA. “This is a result of proactive work to continue protecting the ocean life we all care deeply about.”
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as part of the Pacific Aquaculture Regulations program has committed to releasing information each quarter on topics such as escapes, sea lice, egg imports and incidental catch.
To put the BC industry’s number into perspective, NOAA’s Fisheries Service reported in September 2011 that the ratio of fish bycatch to total catch for all fisheries was 17% in 2005 – in their ‘Pacific Northwest/Alaska’ area, it was 7%. In BC, incidental catch information is not released for wild fisheries in this way.
The number is calculated by determining the ratio of bycatch weight to the weight of the quarterly harvest for each salmon farming company. The number was then combined to provide an industry average.
