When the federal government announced a ban on open-net fish farms in June, it promised a transition plan that would support the aquaculture industry through a five-year deadline to adapt.
The “Draft Salmon Aquaculture Transition Plan for British Columbia” that landed on Friday (about seven weeks late) is loaded with ambition, if not specifics: This is very much a plan to make more plans. Imagine a meeting about meetings on a national scale. That’s this plan.
But maybe that’s unavoidable when you’re trying to replace a $1.5-billion industry. Suffice to say, the very basic questions it leaves open suggest an enormous, expensive, messy race to 2029. Today, we look at how this transformation is taking place as new countries emerge as competitors in a lucrative fish market. But first:
In the news
Powering down: Northvolt AB is cutting a fifth of its global work force as it shrinks expansion plans in the face of a downturn in demand for electric vehicle batteries, raising new questions about the pace of construction of a factory under way in Quebec.
Stepping up: China has unveiled a host of policies designed to stimulate the world’s second largest economy, as Beijing grapples with a prolonged property crisis, lacklustre domestic consumption and trade disputes with the West.
Rate relief: U.S. consumers are largely set to see the cost of their credit-card debt slowly decline as the Federal Reserve lowers its key lending rate. In Canada, not so much.
Happening today
- Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks at the forum of the Institute of International Finance and the Canadian Bankers Association.
- The U.S. Conference Board reports monthly consumer confidence, a leading indicator of economic activity.
The Jostein Albert is located at the cusp of a Norweigan fjord. Inside the vessel are 10 thousand tonnes of Atlantic salmon - a cash crop that promises to help meet a global growing demand for protein.Philip Halvorsen/The Globe and Mail
In focus
Norway bets the farm
Today, reporter Kate Helmore takes us behind the scenes of her recent cover story on Norway’s high-stakes gamble in sustainable salmon farming – and how Canada’s changes reflect an industry in flux.
As I stood on the bridge of an ocean-faring vessel that farmed 10,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon, I was amazed, but also uneasy.
Norway’s Jostein Albert is a $190-million experiment into open ocean fish farming. Proponents call it the future of the salmon farming industry.
Innovation on this scale is required for three reasons:
- The world wants more salmon;
- The demand must and will be met by farmed salmon (wild fisheries are plummeting, and 70 per cent of what is currently consumed globally is farmed);
- The old ways of fish farming spread disease that destroyed wild salmon populations.
The Jostein Albert is only one such venture into the future of fish farming. Owned by Norway’s largest private salmon farming company, it takes the ocean-tanker-turned-factory-farm approach; others opt for autonomous cages submerged tens of feet underneath the waves.
And such innovation is possible because salmon is big business. Salmon farming is a US$323-billion global industry and shows no signs of stopping. Countries in every corner of the world are clamouring for a piece of the salmon pie: from the masterminds behind the industry in Norway to the soon-to-be heavyweights in China.
Everyone except Canada, that is.
In June, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the closing of open-net-pen salmon farming in British Columbia. The industry on the West Coast has five years to transition to closed systems, which will likely be land-based.
News that Canada was bowing out of a fierce international race begged basic questions. Those who oppose fish farms say sea lice are too much of a threat to wild salmon, a vital keystone species. Others say that this is short sighted. There is a future where wild salmon and domestic salmon co-exist. We just need to get radically innovative.
Not just a big fish story
In this way, the story of the fish farms goes beyond the scope of the salmon – it is a question of human ingenuity.
British economist Thomas Malthus predicted population growth would outpace agricultural production and cause famine and war. One might reasonably point to wildfires and floods as consequences of our consumption, and to biodiversity loss – a result, partly, of the domestication and prioritization of some species at the expense of others.
However, there will always be human ingenuity, a tool that has not yet been blunted and has allowed us to wiggle free of countless consequences. It is unmatched. And, as I stood on the bridge of the Jostein Albert, continues to amaze.
But is this technological innovation a solution? Or does it merely postpone the inevitable? The fate of one of the Northern Hemisphere’s most iconic wild species hangs in the balance.
- KH
By land, or by sea?
Kate’s story chronicles a difficult choice for the world’s fish-farming countries: double down on open-net farms and improved technology, or follow in the path of countries like Canada, which are betting the future of salmon farming is on land.
Maybe Canada’s bet will pay off, and its ambition for B.C. to become a “world leader in the adoption of innovative and clean aquaculture technology” will put the country back on the map of major players.
Maybe. A successful plan will need to thread more than a few needles: The ban will lead to lost jobs (or “reskilling” opportunities, depending on your point of view), economic pain, and many, many years before closed containment farms are anywhere near close to replacing a $1.5-billion fishing industry.
But first things first: While the plan highlights the importance of milestones, for example, it does not include any milestones. We need a plan for that.
Mortgages
The rules for buying a house are changing
PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
The Liberal government announced it’s bringing in new mortgage rules to help first-time buyers get into the market. But lower down payments and lower monthly payments but can mean more interest in the long run.
Read: You can catch up on a reader Q&A with reporters Rachelle Younglai and Erica Alini here.
Listen: Younglai joins The Decibel to talk about what effect the changes might have on the housing market.
Rent: Why it’s often a better deal than buying.
Morning markets
World stocks advanced after China’s stimulus measures sent Asian and European shares higher and triggered a bounce in commodity prices. Wall Street futures followed sentiment higher and TSX futures advanced as crude prices climbed.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.74 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.29 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.71 per cent and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.57 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.57 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 4.13 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.99 U.S. cents.
Correction
Yesterday’s Business Brief incorrectly stated that Aritzia Inc. will be announcing earnings on Friday. The retailer’s earnings announcement is scheduled for October.