NOAA develops new tool to measure the eco impact of oyster cages. P. 14
WOMEN IN AQUA
One with nature
Eliza Harrison’s mission to address climate change with seaweed aquaculture P. 10
VIEWPOINT
Shell pride
Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute explores soft shell clams as new aquaculture opportunity P. 20
SALMON FARMING
The government advocate
New Brunswick Min. Margaret Johnson talks about Atlantic Canada aquaculture P. 22
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By Seyitan Moritiwon
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Although our Women in North American Aquaculture program is at its height during our WINAA Summit in September, I knew that I couldn’t let this March/ April issue go by without celebrating the women in our industry.
Honestly, I didn’t have to try very hard to find women to celebrate. There are so many and they are so diverse that it might actually be harder to ignore their work and their contribution to the North American industry.
In fact, even in my marginal position as a storyteller for this industry, I can attribute my professional growth to several women, including the former editors of this magazine, Liza Mayer and Maryam Farag. We’ve had many conversations about how openly the women in this sector celebrate each other. I’m glad to be a part of it in a small way. And yet, I sometimes still think about how visible the female community truly is in aquaculture. Of course, I would like to think
that as a woman, myself, I would want to be recognized for my professional talent rather than just on my gender.
But at the same time, I can’t help but notice that when I read about the current events in this industry at any given day, images of women at work are still fairly few and far between. And then, to find images of women of colour at work is another layer to consider. Maybe it’s a small thing, but it’s also significant.
I acknowledge that my obvious bias on this perspective is clear. I am a woman of colour who works within the aquaculture industry. But I write this in hopes that I am not the only one who feels this way.
Despite this, I would also like to say that men and women in the aquaculture industry have been incredibly generous with their stories and I hope to continue that work with all of you.
Don’t hesitate to connect with me at jkodin@annexbusinessmedia.com.
The Watershed Watch Salmon Society (WWSS) are raising concern after Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) data showed a spike in wild fish killed in B.C. salmon farming operations.
The DFO data shows that more than 800,000 wild fish – mostly herring – were reported killed in open-net pen farming operations in 2022, a significant increase over previous years.
“We’re seeing unprecedented levels of wild fish caught and killed by the salmon farming industry, and that’s a great concern,” Stan Proboszcz, senior scientist with WWSS was quoted by the CBC.
One company operating in the area, Cermaq, said in a statement that efforts are underway to significantly mitigate incidental catches. They also attribute the higher numbers of wild fish kills to abnormally high numbers of herring in the area, which DFO have confirmed.
“DFO saw an increase in estimated spawning abundance in 2023 which was likely preceded in 2022 by an increase in juvenile herring abundance which typically inhabits the nearshore areas,” said a DFO spokesperson.
Concern was also raised regarding the use of hydrolicing machines, which power wash farmed salmon to remove parasites, accompanied by stories of smaller fish like herring getting caught in the machines and having “their eyes blown out.” In response to these issues, DFO implemented new license conditions in March 2023 to ensure that wild fish are not impacted during sea lice treatments.
“If those efforts fail, operators are required to stop the treatment immediately, address the issue, and report the incident to DFO,” said the DFO spokesperson. “In addition, incidental catch must now be reported quarterly by aquaculture operators instead of at the end of production cycles.”
DFO has also increased unannounced inspections and continues to monitor wild fish mortalities.
– Matt Jones
The Nova Scotia government announced the expansion of a coastal classification system to rate areas for aquaculture suitability to include shellfish operations.
It was originally billed as a way to provide more transparency for fish farm sites like open-net salmon pens, according to a CBC report. The online platform is being developed and expected to go live in March 2025.
The expansion, which will eventually include marine plants like rockweed and kelp, was announced by Kent Smith, the province’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture on Jan. 25.
Aquaculture landings in Nova Scotia were valued at C$158 million (US$117.9 million) in 2022 with C$138 million (US$102.9 million) generated by Atlantic salmon. Oysters were valued at C$4.7 million (US$3.5 million) and blue mussels at C$1.5 million (US$1.1 million). The shellfish sector has complained that expansion has been affected because it is subject to the same regulatory review used to assess marine fish farms.
“The amount of scrutiny through this process is out of proportion with the amount of risk,” said Ernie Porter, owner of Town Point Oysters, the company that recently received approval to open an oyster farm in Antigonish Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Michelle Samson, director of aquaculture of Premium Seafood Group and president of the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, said the development is “intriguing but we need to wait.”
Samson said companies need to know more; for example, if a suitability rating will differentiate between types of shellfish.
A fire broke out at Bornstein Seafoods’ crab-landing facility in Ilwaco Landing, Wash. on Jan. 22, destroying a large number of crab pots.
Pacific County Sheriff’s Office said they received a “fire-electrical” call by 11:20 a.m. and although crews tried to reduce the loss, “the facility and pier were too involved to save.” However, they focused their efforts on protecting the surrounding area and saving some crab pots.
The fire was said to have consumed a large wooden dock and damaged a warehouse portion of the facility.
The sheriff’s office closed Loop 100 and warned people to avoid the hazardous smoke via a Facebook post.
No one was injured and The sheriff’s office says it’s still working to ensure nothing else is lost and no other structures are in danger.
In late 2023, the Government of Vietnam announced they were aiming to make US$9.5 billion in 2024 through aquaculture exports. In early January they announced that 99 additional aquaculture establishments had been licensed for exports.
Before anyone starts to panic over the potential impacts of Vietnamese aquaculture products on the market, however, it should be noted that the vast majority of those 99 export licenses were specifically for exports to Korea, China, and the European Union. Only one was for exports to the United States.
Moreover, as National Aquaculture Association Executive Director Paul Zajicek pointed out, most U.S. aquaculture production is fairly insulated from the impacts of imports – typically, he says, importers and domestic producers are focused on different species.
That said, Zajicek feels there needs to be a broader conversation regarding food imports in general. He cites a recent USDA report which showed U.S. agricultural exports in 2024 are projected at US$169.5 billion, while projections show agricultural imports at US$200 billion – if the projections are accurate, the U.S. will become a net importer of agricultural products for the first time in decades.
Zajicek says that realization impacted him tremendously and he hopes it will spurn more conversations about what priority Americans put on their food production.
“Earlier in the year, the Department of Homeland Security came out with a report about risks and they pointed to aquaculture as a potential answer – not a solution, but a contributor – to producing protein in a very sustainable way in the U.S.,” said Zajicek. “That was a nice report to see, but it’s not front-page news anywhere. It’s not quite a crisis yet, so you’ve got to really work at this and convince people this is serious stuff.”
– Matt Jones
Dr. Elizabeth Mansfield says that recent research emphasized “the need for collaborative and adaptive approaches to aquaculture implementation.”
New research out of the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions has examined the trade-offs and potential synergies between small-scale fisheries (SSFs) and aquaculture. The research involved assessing and analyzing 46 different case studies from 30 different countries.
“One major takeaway is that in more than half of the statistically analyzed case studies, either social, economic or environmental benefits resulted from the interactions between the two sectors,” says Elizabeth Mansfield, a postdoctoral researcher and one of the lead authors of the study.
“However, in one third of the cases, trade-offs emerged, most often involving increased competition for space or markets…. This really emphasizes the need for collaborative and adaptive approaches to aquaculture implementation.”
The research team identified three main factors that influence whether interactions between aquaculture and SSFs would be positive or antagonistic; 1) access to resources and allocation of rights; 2) the nature of interactions in markets and through supply chains; and 3) exposure to and management of risks from exogenous factors such as disease or climate change.
Hypothesized general conditions leading to synergies (a) and trade-offs (b) between small-scale fisheries and aquaculture
Due to the nature of those factors, Mansfield agrees that policymakers and regulators have a significant impact on the nature of those interactions, but that the best outcomes would result when those regulators take the voices of both sectors into account in their decision-making process.
“Establishing clear and equitable rights and access can help minimize conflict between the two sectors,” says Mansfield.
In general, the research found more positive interactions between SSFs and small-scale aquaculture in developing nations and more antagonistic interactions involved large-scale industrial aquaculture in developed nations which use imported feed for an exported product. Mansfield speculates that there would also be similar interactions between SSFs and larger, more industrial marine fisheries. – Matt Jones
A seafood industry executive, Lauren Enz, has founded Searenity Seafoods intending to connect and represent sustainable, land-based farms with end consumers in North America.
Enz has 25 years of experience in national seafood sales and business line development and was vice president of U.S. sales for the Kingfish Company. But Ohad Maiman, founder and former CEO of The Kingfish Company, said it’s more than just sales for her.
“She is committed to high quality, sustainable, and responsible fish farming, and thanks to her unparalleled network and familiarity with the U.S. market, she has been successful in connecting the right buyers to our product,” Maiman said.
New research out of the University of Auckland, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, is finally providing proof of something that practitioners have been saying anecdotally for years –that seaweed and mussel farming have positive impacts on wild fish around them.
“Settlement and recruitment of fish in mussel farms” examined how wild fish use shellfish and seaweed farms as potential breeding grounds.
“I was interested in understanding deeper biological interactions that fish have with farms to understand the importance of the mussel farms as habitat, not just the presence/absence of fish,” explained lead author, Lucy Underwood, a doctoral candidate with the University of Auckland.
“By investigating recruitment, this shows that fish see the mussel farms as a place to settle and as nursery habitat. Fish recruitment is a critical component of fish life histories.”
To emphasize those positive interactions, Underwood recommends that farmers time their harvests to exclude the period when fish are settling (which would be location-specific), and to adjust biofouling maintenance on lines so there is less disturbance to the lines. She also recommended that farmers understand the spatial and temporal mosaics of their farms.
“Farms are temporary and get harvested,” explained Underwood. “Therefore, by looking at where your farms are in relation to each
other across a coastline and at what times you are harvesting each farm, you can undertake some contingency planning to ensure that not all the farms are harvested at the same time, and that there is some spatial spread across a region to provide the habitat.”
Underwood also acknowledged that such farms could potentially serve as a technique to bolster fish habitats, depending on the logistics. The research is part of a broader effort by The Nature Conservancy to investigate restorative aquaculture.
– Matt Jones
BY SEYITAN MORITIWON
Every workday is different for Eliza Harrison.
But it’s typically split between being hands-on in the field and paperwork in the office all dedicated to the advancement of seaweed development.
On a Monday at work, Harrison, together with her small California team works to load a 25-foot boat, launch it off the ramp, and sail it out. The trio did a regulatory monitoring survey where Harrison flew a remotely operated vehicle to explore the ocean. Working together to manage a drone’s tether, Harrison and her colleagues take surveys. Later that day, she worked on a presentation for a stakeholder outreach project.
The idea behind the Ocean RainForest is to create a local ocean rainforest around the world to improve people’s well-being by growing seaweed while making a unique contribution to the earth, which aligns with Harrison’s interests.
Ocean RainForest, based in the Faroe Islands, is one of the largest seaweed cultivation and processing companies in the Western hemisphere. Harrison joined as the U.S. operations director in 2017. As the company has evolved, so has her title. She currently serves as the company’s director of California operations.
When Harrison started noticing that the grasses and rivers she used to play in as a child in Santa Fe were drying up, “it reinforced this understanding that I really do want to be committed to or involved in mitigating the effects of climate change in some way, shape, or form.”
While she was studying environmental health science at the University of North Carolina, she was a part of the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program – a joint scholarship between Duke University and her school–and attended a conference where she learnt about the carbon sequestration potential that’s associated with seaweed farming.
Harrison came back from the conference and began working with different professors at the universities trying to understand if seaweed could be grown in North Carolina, and what species grow there. In 2017, she travelled to Scandinavia to learn more about seaweed aquaculture and landed an internship at Ocean Rainforest.
When an opportunity to get a permit for growing seaweed in California came up, she jumped at it. Harrison started as a business development coordinator, then became a program manager and now manages operations as director of California operations.
Seaweed aquaculture is one the fastest-growing component of global food production and it offers a lot of opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“Seaweed is a really interesting kind of organism,” Harrison said, citing biomass potential, vitamins, minerals, and Omega fatty acids as some of the benefits of the algae.
“If you ferment it, it can improve, the gut health of animals. You can use it as a feed ingredient, you can extract different products from it, that can be used as gelling agents, you can run it through this biorefinery approach where you ultimately end up with biofuel, you can use it for feed for human food,” she said.
A 2023 report from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency stated that when the red macroalgae seaweed Asparagopsis was added to cows’ diet, they produced less methane, which is the second-largest contributor to climate warming after carbon dioxide.
In 2018, Harrison’s passion led her to co-found Phyta, a seaweed cultivation initiative to provide a sustainable ingredient for consumer products and alleviate the effects of the climate crisis. Although the company was dissolved, Harrison’s passion still stands.
“Seaweed aquaculture is not a silver bullet. Seaweed is not going to save the world. But I think it is going to be a very important piece of how we adapt because it can provide this alternative input so that other resources can be redirected to where they’re potentially more valuable.” Harrison said.
Right now, Ocean Rainforest grows sugar kelp, (Laminaria saccharina), horsetail kelp (Laminaria digitata), and winged kelp (Alaria esculenta) and Harrison thinks there’s room for growth in the kelp aquaculture industry in North America. She said kelp aquaculture permitting is difficult in California and other parts of the United States because there’s no standardized protocol.
“Within the regulatory agencies, there’s not yet a good understanding of what the risks and challenges and opportunities are that are associated with growing kelp in the ocean. And so that lack of familiarity, those lack of data, make it such that it’s hard for agencies to issue a permit,” she said. “Every permit that you try to get becomes this extensive conversation with the agencies about what the risks are.”
Harrison advocates for the implementation of a regulatory approach similar to Nationwide Permit 48. This particular permit, known as the Commercial Shellfish Mariculture Activities permit, is issued by the U.S. Army Corps once specific criteria for shellfish farming are satisfied.
She believes in designating a lead agency for coordinating the permit application process and having a regulatory framework for what documentation is required for a permit.
Harrison identifies other obstacles as market barriers and entry challenges. “As much as there’s a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of demand for seaweed, there’s not yet a framework for how you bring that product to market.”
What Harrison is helping to do at Ocean Rainforest is build some of those preliminary production lines to have a well-established Tech-to-Market pathway and move into a commercial permit application process.
“With those two things more well established, I think our company – but more broadly and more importantly, the industry as a whole – will have a baseline and a framework to build off of. And that’s really what’s going to kind of catapult kelp aquaculture into a state where it’s really making a difference in the context of climate change.”
Harrison’s commitment to addressing climate change extends beyond her career. When she’s not working making things sustainable for the climate, she enjoys nature through telemark skiing, whitewater kayaking, and backpacking.
“I grew up just outside of Santa Fe, and Santa Fe is at the bottom of the Rocky Mountains. So it’s pretty high up in elevation, it’s 8000 feet. It also affords access, very easily to skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking… that connection to the outdoors is so incredibly important to me.”
She makes conscientious efforts to minimize energy consumption. She ensures that lights are only utilized when necessary and opts for walking and biking as her primary
modes of transportation. “My poor housemates have gotten very used to me following them around and turning off lights if they just leave the lights on,” she said.
“I’m super interested in regenerative agriculture. I think it’s an absolutely fascinating space. And is a really interesting way of caring for the environment, but also producing protein,” she said, adding that she’d love to be more active in volunteering.
As a part-time member of the board of the California Aquaculture Association since 2022, she supports projects as they move through different permit or review processes.
“It’s a way for us to kind of collectively advocate as a state or as aquaculture across the state for different policies then translate toward or get moved toward the National Aquaculture Association.”
BY LYNN FANTOM
Before they show up on tables raw, fried, roasted, or stewed, oysters clean the water where they grow. Their cages attract fish and provide habitat.
Now some of these valuable ecosystem services can be easily and reliably quantified through a new tool that will help regulators make science-based decisions about if and where to issue farm permits.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) demonstrated the beta version of the tool’s first module that targets nitrogen removal at the Northeast Aquaculture Conference and Expo in Providence, R.I. in January and the Aquaculture America conference in San Antonio, Texas, in February. With funding from the NOAA Office of Aquaculture, the project represents diverse collaborators from North Carolina to
Maine and drew positive feedback.
“I really like the very deliberate way it is targeted to address regulators who are experiencing public pushback,” said Boze Hancock, a senior marine habitat restoration scientist at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), who joined the audience in Providence. “Tools like these are only valuable if they are used.”
“I firmly believe that having this kind of data is very valuable to growers,” added Bob
Rheault, executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association (ECSGA), which represents over 1,500 shellfish farmers from Maine to Florida.
Data at the fingertips
The tool synthesizes data collected by top regional scientists to create a robust prediction of how much nitrogen the harvest of Eastern oysters removes. It has similarities to the calculator developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for restored oyster reefs but was designed specifically for oyster aquaculture.
“I really like the very deliberate way it is targeted to address regulators who are experiencing public pushback,tools like these are only valuable if they are used.”
TNC’s tool, in fact, provided the impetus. During discussions with TNC partners at the global environmental nonprofit’s aquaculture team retreat in 2022, Chris Schillaci of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and Julie Rose of
NOAA Fisheries Milford Lab hit upon the idea of tapping into East Coast data sources to power a new calculator for aquaculture.
As work began, the team applied methodology used by the Chesapeake Bay Program, which quantified the concentration of
nitrogen in an oyster’s tissue and shell, as well as a prediction of dry weight based on harvest length.
In order for both growers and regulators to have confidence in the calculator’s output, all of the data came from waterbodies with oyster aquaculture, said Rose. The contributors included Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Narragansett, NOAA Milford, Rutgers University, Stony Brook University, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, and University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“We were very fortunate to work with some very generous scien-
For programming and data analysis, NOAA Fisheries turned to oceanographer Ryan Morse. “The most time-consuming aspect of the project has been compiling data and conducting quality checks,” he said.
Countering opposition and delays
The value of oysters produced by U.S. growers was US$285 million in 2018, up almost 60 percent from five years prior, according to the 2018 Census of Aquaculture from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The 2023 census is due to be released in December.
With the start of new farms and expansion of others, “aquaculture permitting will definitely get tougher as space fills up,” Schillaci noted. Already some permit seekers are forced into less-than-desirable sites.
In addition, public pushback against aquaculture has increased despite its rising economic value and contribution to US food production. “Right now, the social license to farm is our biggest challenge,” said Rheault, who has led ECSGA since 2008.
Lawyers are specializing in anti-aquaculture litigation. Property owners sue regulatory agencies, which can cause multi-year delays for the growers seeking permits. In Virginia, regulators are following up to ensure that people who have acquired leases are making efforts to propagate shellfish, and not doing so, for example, simply to keep farmers out.
Yet in the face of such opposition, “the ecosystem services [provided by oysters] are rarely considered in permit application materials and the environmental reviews by permitting agencies,” Schillaci said.
One of Schillaci’s tasks during the project was to confer widely with state and federal resource managers to find ways the current permitting process could accommodate consideration of shellfish ecosystem services. Among them was the Army Corps of Engineers, whose mandate is to weigh both adverse and beneficial factors in its public interest review.
A tool like this can support them with data – plus give “confidence in the numbers,” Schillaci said. “It can make tough decisions a little bit easier because they have information to support them.”
Easy-to-use, reliable, free
“We’ve heard from both regulators and industry members that they need a simple, intuitive way to calculate environmental benefits that are provided by shellfish aquaculture,” said Rose. The new tool was created with both groups of end users in mind.
The beta version of the nitrogen removal module requires only two inputs: the number of oysters for harvest and their size. It generates a map, with the latitudes and longitudes of the farm’s location. In addition to the numeric value (pounds of nitrogen permanently removed), the output includes text featuring proper technical language and citations, which would be easy for a regulator, for example, to copy and paste into the public review memo.
Following the conferences, the team has been incorporating feedback so that the tool, methodology, and data sources can be reviewed by NOAA and peers for scientific publication.
“The tool will be hosted on a NOAA website and will be freely available to the public,” added Kristen Jabanoski, science communications
For over 35 years oyster growers worldwide have trusted our S1000 Oyster Tray and S4000 nursery tray, to produce the highest quality half-shell oyster for today’s demanding consumers.
specialist at NOAA Fisheries. The team will partner with the Sea Grant extension community to continue to get feedback from shellfish growers and resource managers after it is launched.
With the core calculator now built, the team is looking toward future enhancements. Those may include phosphorus removal (when data gaps are resolved) and water filtration.
“We have a flexible tool that can be adapted when new data become available,” Rose said.
Region or state-specific values might also at some point be generated if data can support this function. If major differences are seen in gear or ploidy, the tool could also provide an option to select for those. Such enhancements depend on the availability of such granular data and also the judgment as to whether the differentials warrant greater complexity in the tool itself.
“We think that that median value may often make the most sense and doesn’t overpromise or underpromise in a significant way,” Schillaci said.
How oyster cages create essential fish habitat is another module on the horizon. In partnership with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, this module could be used in both the Northeast and Northwest. It will leverage recent data collected on oyster farms by NOAA teams on both coasts.
Since 2017, for example, Milford scientists in Connecticut have been studying how two commonly used styles of oyster cages function as fish habitat compared to naturally occurring rock reef. Using GoPro cameras, AI programs, and DNA analysis of scale and tissue deposits in water samples, they have learned about the abundance and behavior of fish such as black sea bass, cunner, scup, and tautog.
“We also see an opportunity to extend the tool beyond oysters to other commonly farmed shellfish, such as clams and mussels,” Schillaci added.
Maryland is the first state to have a program of nutrient credit trading. Launched via legislation in 2018, it helps address water quality issues in the Chesapeake Bay, such as excess nitrogen and phosphorus. Oyster farmers can sell the credits they create based upon the number and size of oysters they harvest.
As more states join Maryland in providing such trading credits, the new tool from NOAA may find additional relevance.
Mitigation is also being used more in aquaculture permitting, according to Schillaci. If a desired site overlaps with a resource area, a grower may opt to pay into a mitigation bank. But instead of paying three times the amount that is impacted, for example, more favorable ratios might be negotiated if the grower has been able to demonstrate the ecological value of the proposed farm.
All of this lies ahead as states nationwide grapple with water quality and biodiversity challenges, and greater recognition emerges of how shellfish aquaculture can help address them.
But for right now, Bob Rheault says, “I would rather get the ‘perception’ credit. I want to be able to stand up on a soap box and say ‘I don’t want a fraction of a penny.’ Instead, I want to say ‘I’m good for the environment and all you naysayers should be cheering us on.’”
By Jeff Hetrick, Alutiiq
Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute explores soft shell clams as a new aquaculture opportunity
The Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute (APMI) has been working on shellfish enhancement and gardening efforts for over thirty years mostly focusing on native littleneck and butter clams in south-central Alaska. During this time, staff have noticed an increasing expansion of the populations of the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria) both in geographical distribution and densities on beaches near the tribal communities they serve.
Shellfish have been a staple of diets in coastal communities in Alaska and has significant cultural importance, but that resource has been dwindling over the past several decades. The decline of these populations has been attributed to a long list of factors including the 1964 earthquake, overharvest, predation and changing environmental conditions. The prevalence of soft-shell clams despite being exposed to the same factors that have been attributed to the decline of hard-shell populations suggests that the soft-shell clam is better suited for
the current environment or has adapted to the changing conditions.
Soft shell clams are ubiquitous on the east coast of the United States. It is a high value species in aquaculture and fisheries. On the west coast, they are known to extend from California through the Aluetian Islands in western Alaska. There is historical (paleontological) evidence of their existence in Alaska butare described as an “unintentional and intentional introduction”. Regardless of
their pathway they are becoming more and more common.
APMI staff saw an opportunity for a new aquatic species for commercial farming. Our first efforts with production in 2021 were exciting because we just used the basic shellfish culture cookbook, and the hatchery cycle went very well. Their larvae cycle, settling, and nursey went smoothly, and we were encouraged by how easy they were to raise.
The clams grew very quickly with a threeweek larvae cycle at 16 C and reached 10 mm or more after a couple months in the nursery,
much faster than the hardshell clams. Based on those encouraging results, the staff increased efforts the next year by repeating the hatchery process and began developing growout strategies. Fortunately, there is a lot of information about soft shell clams out there. It was just a matter of finding what is applicable to our situation.
For convenience, APMI chose Resurrection Bay where the Institute is located for its initial field work.
The APMI team tried a couple of methods of outplanting to see what works best in this region. The crew looked at mesh netting for predator control, plastic tubes to easily identify groups and planting sites and light scattering of seed over the raked substrate. Even though it was not a scientific study, the staff was excited at the preliminary results and are looking forward to redoubling efforts in 2024 expanding nursery efforts and looking at additional test sites.
We’re trying to get a three-year clam or better if we can. We’re going to try to push spawning up earlier on the calendar and increase feed and temperature. If we can get large seed planted by the fall of the year we think we can get harvestable clams to two inches or more with three full growing seasons.
The economics for private farming of softshell clams is very speculative at this point but based on reports from other regions it may provide an opportunity in Alaska. Developing efficient cost cost-effective growout techniques applicable to Alaska, keeping production costs low and producing a premium product will be critical. It will also be imperative to support farmers with assisting in obtaining tideland leases and financial support during the development phase.
We also realized that they can’t produce shellfish without considering shellfish
sanitation and safety. We have a robust harmful algae lab where we regularly monitor shellfish toxicity through tissue and algae population studies. We are paying special attention to see what types of trends we see with their uptake and accumulation,” stated shellfish biologist Annette Jarosz. There have been no detectable presences so far.
APMI staff sees other positive outcomes from this effort. Having these clams under
culture for their complete life cycle allows us a deeper understanding of their reproductive biology, behavior and growth and survival. It affords us an opportunity to fulfill a goal of providing additional food sources for our tribal members outside of commercialization and provides ecosystem services through nutrient cycling and beach stabilization on once productive beaches.
New Brunswick Min. Margaret Johnson sits down for a candid talk about advocating for Atlantic Canadian aquaculture. BY
JEAN KO DIN
Salmon aquaculture has been integral to the province of New Brunswick since it began with a small commercial site in St. George in 1978. Since then, the province has come to produce about 40 percent of all Canadian salmon production. But, Honourable Min. Margaret Johnson believes there is still room to grow.
Min. Johnson is the minister of New Brunswick’s Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries. She was the final guest for Season 1 of the Salmon Farming: Inside & Out podcast with Ian Roberts and Mari-Len De Guzman. In the episode, she discusses New Brunswick’s proud history in aquaculture and her dedication to keep the industry alive and thriving.
Ian Roberts: Let’s start with the basics. What are the federal and provincial political structures and where does your position as provincial minister fit into the larger structure?
Min. Margaret Johnson: So there’s three general government bodies that are involved here. So we’ve got my department, the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, herein known as DAAF. We’re the lead regulators, so we look at aquaculture as it relates to providing access to the leases, to the tenure. We authorize the practice of aquaculture, the licenses for the waters that they’re going to be working in. And we’re responsible for the sustainable aquaculture production and development.
Then, we’ve got the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), that’s the federal department. And they’re responsible for fish and fish habitat. They also do inland waterways as well, which we do not cover.
And then you have the last agency, which is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and they are the federal lead for aquatic animal health. So, they’re looking at several provincial and federal government departments. We work together on a lot of different files. So that’s how I fit into the scheme of things.
Roberts: New Brunswick is in the eastern part of Canada. We are a salmon-centric podcast, but what other species do you manage, do you culture, do you fish?
Johnson: In the aquaculture department, we’ve got a lot of oysters. Oysters are really, really popular. We’ve had amazing uptake on recognizing what a quality product we produce here in New Brunswick, because we’ve got the cold, clear waters. The French population is totally enamoured of our product.
We had a delegation here last spring that came over from Spain and France… We took the delegation that came to visit us and we took them up to the Acadian peninsula, which is a northern part of the province. For anybody who doesn’t know, it’s sort of that section between
Quebec and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and it’s right up on the coast of northern New Brunswick. Very, very prominent fishing industry up there. But we’ve also got some oysters all down the coast of New Brunswick, and we’re promoting things like oysters, scallops, crab, lobster, all of those.
But for farming purposes, we look at oysters and salmon as our predominant industries for aquaculture.
Roberts: Where are the markets for New Brunswick’s aquaculture products?
Johnson: The United States is one of our biggest markets, of course, because we’ve got them right up against us… And we can have things to places like Boston and New York and the big seafood markets; you can have it down there inside of 10 hours from start to finish.
That’s what the consumer wants. They want to have something that is fresh and has the sense of the sea about it. And I think for seafood as a whole, we have to make sure that people understand what fresh looks like, smells like, tastes like. Because I think there’s been an association of people that think it smells fishy and that’s an indicator that it’s not fresh. And so, when we want to make sure that the consumer is educated as to what good fresh seafood looks like, and our industry, people in our stakeholders have done such an exceptional job of making sure that what they’re putting out to the public is so globally revered, it’s not even funny.
We’ve done marketing and trade expos. We’ve been to SENA in Boston which is the Seafood Expo in North America…We’ve been to Barcelona to the to a big seafood expo there. We’ve been to Norway. We’ve been to Singapore. So we’re really trying to get the good news out about the Atlantic Canadian seafood products. And our people have done such an exceptional job of embracing not only the flavour and the quality of what they’re selling.
Mari-Len De Guzman: When you’re doing all these trips and talking to the international aquaculture industry, are you looking to international companies to invest in New Brunswick or Atlantic Canada, as well?
Johnson: Great question. I’m so proud of the history of aquaculture in New Brunswick because what many people do not know is the fact that (the idea of fish farming)
started in a little teeny tiny town, down in the southwest of New Brunswick, called St. George. And that company has since grown to exponential size.
But what happened back in the ’70s was we had the world coming to New Brunswick and saying, “What are you doing? You’re farming fish? That’s really kind of neat.” And other countries have taken the ball and run with it. And they’ve innovated and they’ve experimented, and they’ve expanded. And now here we are, we’re playing catch up to the people who took our idea.
So going to other countries and seeing what they’ve been able to innovate in terms of equipment, and ways of doing healthier net pen farming and, just the innovation in the industry, and bringing that back to us.
Roberts: You know, there’s no doubt that Canada has been a bit schizophrenic on its vision for aquaculture when you go west to east, and you’ve got two of the largest international companies producing salmon in the province of New Brunswick. So do you worry about this kind of political regulatory battle that is happening between the federal government and the provincial government, and how do you how do you speak about that publicly? Because I think to the international audience, it’s fairly confusing.
Johnson: Amen, Ian, you’re preaching to the choir. I have, in my time as minister of the department, have been through three different federal ministers…And this contentious issue with net pen farming, or open sea farming on the West Coast has been very, very upsetting.
We’ve got a group of individuals here in the East Coast: you’ve got Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and ourselves who have been running an East Coast fishery here for a century or more. And we recognize that this is the actual start of aquaculture, the birthplace of it, and we probably are more well-versed in how to do it than anybody else, even if we are playing catch up with the technology worldwide.
I have to tell you, the four ministers of the East Coast, we joke with each other. We call each other “the Atlantic mafia” because we’re very unified. We generally speak as one voice. We’re in constant communication with each other because we’re all facing the same challenges. And when the British Columbia situation came up, we have worked diligently for the last three and a half years to make sure that the East Coast fishery was being protected.
When we had Minister (Joyce) Murray, was the minister of the DFO, just before the new minister, Madame (Diane) Lebouthillier… And we had finally gotten to a point where we wanted DFO to recognize that what the federal government is saying is that we’re not
going to touch the East Coast fishery, we’re just worrying about the West Coast… But I said, on a global level, what the rest of the world hears is not, “The East Coast is okay. Don’t worry about them. It’s alright.” They’re hearing Canada. And so, our mission was to make sure that message was getting out to investors, to companies, to the rest of the world, to know that we are open for business, and we’re ready to make sure that our seafood products and particularly, our salmon are safe; they’re sustainable. We’ve got practices in place, we’ve got registries in place to look at escapes and keep track of what’s going on there. It’s one of the most well-managed organizations and we’ve got wonderful groups, like Mowi and Cooke, here in our province. Newfoundland has also got Grieg making great investments, and we can’t have a mixed message going out to those investors, because what they’re doing, particularly to fishing communities, is bringing back a vital industry that would otherwise not be there.
De Guzman: Obviously, you’re also getting feedback from the industry itself, from the producers in the region or in your province. What are some of the feedback that you’re getting from them?
Johnson: We talk to the Atlantic ministers and we’re generally hearing the same thing from industry in each of the four Atlantic provinces… We want to make a collaborative, harmonized approach to this. We’ve got tremendous strength when we work together, and we want to make sure that we’re helping our industries…
The industry value, was like C$74 million (US$55 million), is what this was bringing to our provinces in 2022 and over 450 people with direct jobs. In New Brunswick alone, we exported C$312.8 million (US$231.4 million) worth of salmon to the world, and C$19.1 million (US$14.1 million) in oysters.
So, we have to make sure that that message is getting out globally so that investors and producers and people involved in the industry recognize that the East Coast is open for business, and we are through our trade initiatives and when we’re sending people to other countries on marketing and trade missions…
And we work regularly. I mean, I get calls from Cooke, and I get calls from Mowi all the time about these concerns, this is what we’re worried about. Can you help us with this? And so, we’ve gone to bat every opportunity I’ve had in the last three and a half
years when we’re speaking with the federal minister to make sure this message is clear.
The fact that we’ve said, “I understand what you’re saying, the other ministers understand what you’re saying, we need to have industry and the rest of the world the investors understand where you’re coming from, and don’t make it look like we’re closing the door to investment and innovation.”
De Guzman: So what kind of reception are you getting when you are speaking to the federal officials? Do you feel like your concerns are getting through and changing minds?
Johnson: I am and I don’t know if it’s the fact that the new minister is from a fishing community herself. She understands that fish means dollars, and seafood means dollars, and that there are a number of communities on our coastlines.
We’re in four little provinces that are small in size but the coastlines that we have access to, and the freshwater we have access to, is what keeps us going. And we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got people who were advocating for our industry that know that. And she does.
Madame Lebouthillier is very, very active, and she’s visiting these outposts and visiting fishing communities and processors and fishermen and talking with us. And I think we’re going to make some headway because she has a really good understanding of how critical it is to not only the economic development of these areas, but it’s also cultural.
This is the way people have made their living off the sea for hundreds of years. And we want to make sure that it not only continues to be a viable source…My big thing is making sure that we show the young people of today that there are really valuable, viable, exciting career opportunities within aquaculture and agriculture…and the opportunities are endless. So that’s part of my mission. I think that the new minister is on board with that and I’m hoping we can make great gains.
Aquaculture technology company Ace Aquatec has appointed a new head of sales.
Ben Perry has over 15 years of experience working across freshwater and marine finfish production, and animal health. He brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for the aquaculture sector to his new role. Perry recently held the role of sales and technical manager at Benchmark Holdings Ltd, where he developed the company’s
genetics business in North America.
“This is a great opportunity to combine my clinical knowledge and practical experience with a purpose-driven, innovative mission to provide intelligent, ethical aquaculture products to customers. I’m excited to build on the excellent work already being done by Ace Aquatec to bring their market-leading technology to clients across the globe, enabling our partners to achieve the highest welfare practices throughout the production cycle, while optimizing growth and efficiency for future success,” Perry said.
“We’re delighted to have someone of Ben’s calibre on board as we continue to scale our brand globally. With a strong background in aquaculture, he is the perfect fit for a welfare-focused and passionate brand like Ace Aquatec. As our industry enters a new era of technology transformation driven by AI, Ben’s deep understanding of what drives customers’ success will be invaluable in this exciting time of disruption,” said Tara McGregor-Woodhams, chief sales and marketing officer at Ace Aquatec. www.aceaquatec.com
The Merrymeeting Shellfish Company is purchasing Running Tide’s oyster hatchery located at Mitchell Field in Harpswell, Maine.
The company has entered a new lease with the Town of Harpswell, which was approved by the Harpswell Select Board with an effective date of Feb.1.
“Running Tide is thrilled that the facility will continue to produce shell-
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fish seed for Maine’s aquaculture sector. We are confident that the Merrymeeting team will be a great fit,” said Adam Baske of Running Tide.
Running Tide leased the former U.S. Navy garage building on the waterfront at George J. Mitchell Field from the Town of Harpswell in December of 2018. That building which had an initial five-year lease was renovated to convert it into an oyster hatchery. Although Merrymeeting Shellfish is purchasing the business it intends to continue to operate the Mitchell Field facility as an oyster hatchery. Matt Nixon, the owner of Merrymeeting Shellfish looks forward to becoming a part of the Harpswell marine business community.
“As one of Maine’s only locally and domestically owned and operated shellfish hatcheries, our goal is to provide a great product made by local employees making a livable wage, offered at a consistent and reasonable price. We’re here to support Maine’s burgeoning shellfish aquaculture industry and Harpswell has demonstrated exceptional foresight ty seeing the value in continuing to dedicate a small portion
of Mitchell Field to this pursuit. We look forward to working with our client farms, our sister company, Muddy River Farm Aquaponics, LLC in Bath, and importantly, with the Town of Harpswell to ensure a sustainable food future for Maine and New England,” said Nixon.
“The Town is very pleased to have a tenant such as Merrymeeting Shellfish, under the direction of Matt Nixon, take over operations at the site used by Running Tide. Both companies fit the vision established by the Town for marine business at Mitchell Field.
The Town looks forward to Merrymeeting Shellfish having a successful operation and building on what Running Tide started,” said Kevin Johnson, chair Select Board.
www.merrymeetingshellfishcompany.com
FoodTech company, Atarraya Inc. has won the Edison Awards.
Atarraya developed an innovation in aquaculture to solve the problems of traditional shrimp production, without antibioticsShrimpbox which won them the award.
“This recognition underlines our unwavering commitment to innovation in sustainable aquaculture,” a LinkedIn post from Atarraya reads.
The Edison Awards honours excellence in new product and service development, marketing, design and innovation. The 2024 edition is taking place on April 17-19 in Fort Myers, Florida where Shrimpbox will be awarded either a gold, silver, or bronze place in the food and agricultural advancements category.
“A big thank you to the entire Atarraya team for making this innovation possible. This award is dedicated to all of you,” Atarraya’s post on LinkedIn reads.
www.atarraya.ai
Sheraton Hotel, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada October 8–10, 2024
On behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry,
Cold Harvest is a premier Canadian aquaculture conference, focused on promoting and developing the business of aquaculture for the prosperity of our sector and our communities. It brings farm management and service sector professionals together to build their knowledge and foster new business connections. The conference offers exciting and informative discussions related to aquaculture and its potential in our province. With world class keynote speakers and guests, and themed sessions
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