Fish farm fiasco brings in heavy hitters

Quietly, the farmed salmon industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar business worldwide, involving some of the planet's biggest companies. Those who fight to fix its problems have a fight on their hands

by Kevin Potvin <kpotvin@republic-news.org>

The simmering fight between coastal fish farmers and environmentalists is shaping up into a classic battle for the ages.

On the one side, there are huge multinational conglomerates with big plans and serious investors. On the other side, there are global environmentalist groups with big worries and serious agendas. The prize in the battle is local government regulations. And the ammunition deployed to win that prize is public opinion—our public opinion.

At stake is the future of wild salmon along BC's coast. Long the staple food of British Columbia for thousands of years even before Simon Fraser floated down his river, wild salmon is to BC what wheat is to the prairies—the food identifies BC to the rest of the world.

Farmed salmon is a relatively new industry, being virtually nonexistent just twenty years ago. But around the world, farmed salmon has developed into a huge global business, and in just two decades has become one of BC's largest industries as well.

The UN estimates that farmed fish will soon comprise more than one third of the world's total supply of fish for food. Accordingly, farmed salmon comprises a third of the world's total salmon supply, which is already one of the most popular fish.

The amount of total farmed salmon has skyrocketed. The UN estimates that farmed salmon production went over 1 million tonnes worldwide two years ago, reaching a wholesale value of over $7 billion.

Norway and Chile dominate global farmed salmon production, accounting for about two-thirds of the global harvest. But Canada is fourth in the world, accounting for 7 percent of world production, two-thirds of which comes from right out there, on the BC coast.

Naturally, that kind of cash flow has attracted big players to our backyard. George Weston Ltd, a Toronto-based global food conglomerate with $36 billion in worldwide sales, is here in the form of Heritage Salmon Ltd. Nutreco, a huge Dutch food company with $4 billion in worldwide sales is here as well, in the form of Marine Harvest. Stolt-Neilson SA, a $3 billion company, operates on our coast as Stolt Seafarm. Cermaq, a $1 billion Norwegian conglomerate operates here as Pacific National Salmon. Pan Fish, a $500 million company from Norway operates salmon farms here under the name Omega Salmon. Grieg Group, a $500 million shipping and food company also from Norway, is here as Grieg Seafood.

All these companies operate salmon farms in several countries besides Canada. They have accumulated a lot of in-house knowledge about different government regulations and how they affect their bottom-line profits. They also have a great deal of in-house expertise in dealing with legislation they don't like, including effective strategies to confront global environmental groups that battle them directly over local government regulations. They especially know how to deploy local public opinion in those battles.

General environmental degradation and over-harvesting around the world has negatively affected fishing grounds everywhere. Fishing is arguably humanity's oldest economic activity, and the longest-established human settlements are always located nearby traditional fishing grounds.

Consequently, almost wherever there are long-established towns, there is to be found severe economic distress from collapsed fishing industries. Fish farms happen to be most productive in waters where wild fish once thrived. As a result, huge global food companies getting in on the farmed salmon action have found that wherever they wish to go, they find traditional local populations there with distressed economies and lots of desperate people who are easily recruited to the cause of easing any profit-threatening local government regulations.

But this also means that major industrial farming activity is targeting areas where there is already severe environmental distress. It is exactly in those waters where wild fish stocks are already troubled that large, powerful environmental groups have focused their attention. This is where, they believe, local government regulations must begin if the future of food generally, and of humanity itself, is to be won.

The fight is between these huge global companies and big environmental groups, but because neither can bend the ear of government directly, they need to battle through proxies on the ground. For the companies, that means the residents of small towns where fish farming promises jobs; for environmental groups, it means residents of big cities inside the same governing jurisdictions who are most keenly aware of environmental degradation.

And British Columbia has it all: the biggest farming companies are here, the biggest environmental groups are here, some of the most distressed fishing towns are here, and some of the worst environmental problems are here. In the big, worldwide, eons-long war between people and capital, the fish farm fight in BC promises to be a significant and decisive battle.

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