Our November newsletter covers a variety of topics in recent news. On a global stage, you can read about the projected growth of aquaculture and see the Seafood Stewardship rankings. In Canada, a Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Salmonids was published, as was a report about the salmon eating habits and knowledge of Canadian consumers.
You can read about these events and more below in News and Views.
If you have any questions about UBC’s certificate program, please visit the website or send an email to lfs.aquaculture@ubc.ca.
Yours aquaculturally,
Justin Henry
Business Development Director
UBC Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture
Certificate Updates
This year’s cohort of students in UBC’s Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture have been busy visiting aquaculture sites over the past couple of months, including those farming coho salmon, rainbow trout, arctic charr, and white sturgeon.
In January, the program will start accepting applications for the fall 2022 term. Note that the program will be a hybrid model next year, with students able to attend in person or remotely.
You can read more about the program on our website.
News and Views
Global
The Global Seafood Alliance’s GOAL 2021 conference in November projected future growth for global aquaculture production which is summarized in the article “Growth ahead for the aquaculture industry”.
An evaluation of the “Environmental Performance of Blue Foods” was published in Nature. The article evaluates impacts of the main aquaculture species on greenhouse gas, nitrogen, phosphorus, freshwater and land stressors and notes that farmed blue food is among the fastest growing food sectors.
The World Benchmarking Alliance published the Seafood Stewardship Index 2021 ranking companies in four measurement areas: governance and strategy, ecosystems, traceability, and social responsibility. One salmon farming company (#2 – MOWI) and two feed companies (#5 – Skretting, and #6 – Cargill) operating in BC’s aquaculture sector came in the top 10.
A much needed paper was published in the journal Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture which provides a US perspective on the misinformation often provided to the public: “Refuting Marine Aquaculture Myths, Unfounded Criticisms, and Assumptions”.
Canada
A report from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia suggests that most Canadians enjoy eating salmon, but are misinformed about production methods and are concerned about price. Here is the National Post’s story on the report.
Canada’s National Farm Animal Care Council released its long anticipated “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Salmonids”. Thanks to our Certificate Program instructors Dr. Barry Milligan and Dr. Wendy Vandersteen for sitting on the committee to produce the Code.
Certificate Program guest lecturer Dr. Thierry Chopin and other experts gave their views on the potential for Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) on the west coast in this article.