{"id":32279,"date":"2021-01-13T15:48:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T20:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=32279"},"modified":"2021-01-13T15:48:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T20:48:26","slug":"questioning-the-numbers-will-1500-fish-farm-workers-lose-their-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/questioning-the-numbers-will-1500-fish-farm-workers-lose-their-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Questioning the numbers: Will 1,500 fish farm workers lose their jobs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

This is the second in what has turned out to be a series of interviews about the need for a plan to help the 1,500 fish farm workers who will allegebly be losing their jobs because of the decision to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands.\u00a0\u00a0Stan Proboszcz<\/a>, Science Advisor with the\u00a0Watershed Watch Salmon Society<\/a>, is questioning the numbers.<\/p>\n

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\"Stan<\/a>

Stan Proboszcz, Science Advisor with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Questioning the numbers<\/h2>\n

Are 1,500 people actually losing their jobs?<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do feel for the few people who are losing their jobs, but let\u2019s do some math here,\u201d stated Stan Proboszoz.<\/p>\n

He suggests that, conservatively speaking, the actual number is probably closer to 300 (and possibly lower).<\/p>\n

(Listen to his calculations in the podcast above.)<\/p>\n

This raises the question of whether the closure would be a major economic blow to the region?\u00a0 Or a personal tragedy for the affected families?<\/p>\n

After my interview with Proboszoz, someone from the\u00a0BC Salmon Farmers Association<\/a>\u00a0said the 1,500 figure is a combination of direct and indirect jobs. The actual total is 1,498 and 672 of these are people directly employed on the Discovery Island fish farms.<\/p>\n

Have jobs been lost because of fish farms?<\/h2>\n

\u201cHow many jobs have been lost because of \u2026 the parasites and diseases from fish farms?\u201d asks Proboszcz.<\/p>\n

Have fishermen lost their jobs?<\/p>\n

What about negative impacts on the wild wilderness tourism and recreational fishing sectors?<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t prove with 100% certainty that there have been jobs lost because of fish farms. It is tough to prove anything with 100% certainty. I would suggest that salmon farms are a contributing factor \u2026 There has been a fair bit of science that shows they contribute to wild salmon declines,\u201d said Proboszoz.<\/p>\n

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\"Recomendation

From Fisheries and Oceans Canada\u2019s update on the implementation of the Cohen Commission\u2019s recommendations. Note: On Monday, Sept 28, the DFO announced that the Discovery Islands fish farms posed minimal risk to migrating wild salmon \u2013 but their analysis did not include sea lice.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Was the industry blindsided?<\/h2>\n

\u201cI have heard that the industry was blindsided by this decision. People were surprised, shocked, but I just want to remind everyone that this isn\u2019t a surprise. This was explicitly stated in recommendations from the Cohen Commission that was tabled eight years ago. One of the recommendations stated that the farms should be removed in 2020. Everyone knew that this was likely going to happen. I think it is a little irresponsible for the industry to suggest they were blind-sided. They should have been preparing for this a long time ago,\u201d said Proboszoz.<\/p>\n

Moving forward<\/h2>\n

As far as funding the retaining of fish farm workers who have lost their jobs, Proboszcz wondered if it could be part of a larger transition of the industry to on-land farms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure of the best way forward, that\u2019s not my area of expertise, but there are\u00a0 jurisdictions around the world that are moving forward with [land based fish farms]. There just seems to be this resistance, especially in Western Canada, to this technology. I think we need to change and perhaps they are starting to see the writing on the wall. Perhaps after this bitterness passes we\u2019ll see that sort of transition. , \u2026 We are going to miss the boat if we don\u2019t transition towards a more environmentally sustainable method of growing fish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\"Inside<\/a>

Inside one of the pens at Phillips Arm in 2016 \u2013 courtesy Ian Roberts<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Further interviews<\/h2>\n

Cortes Currents will be interviewing someone from the BC Salmon Farmers Association this afternoon.<\/p>\n

The mayor of Campbell River declined my invitation to be interviewed and I have reached out to a couple of the other mayors that told the DFO they wished to be consulted.<\/p>\n

So far, none of the First Nations I emailed have responded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales This is the second in what has turned out to be a series of interviews about the need for a plan to help the 1,500 fish farm workers who will allegebly be losing their jobs because of the decision to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands.\u00a0\u00a0Stan Proboszcz, Science Advisor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":32294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[222],"tags":[],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32279"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=32279"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=32279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}