What’s New in Aquaculture: UBC Update January 2022

The new year has rung in lots of interesting aquaculture news. But before diving in, we invite you to attend our upcoming Information Session on Feb. 3 to learn about the Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture, and other professional programs.

First Nations are the pioneers of aquaculture here in BC as was highlighted in news from 2019, which confirmed that First Nations were farming shellfish in the province for at least 3,500 years. Now, First Nations are becoming more deeply involved with finfish aquaculture as well as fish processing and marketing on the West Coast.

A series of articles in Nature Food magazine collects research and commentary on how aquaculture can continue its fast growth in a sustainable manner. There have been recent news items aiming to help separate science from fiction, ranging from a podcast that refutes claims made in recent films to the Canadian government countering false postings about sea lice.

Looking ahead, technology will become embedded more in the aquaculture industry as a way to monitor individual fish health, and regenerative agriculture is concept that may soon apply to water-based farms as much land-based farms.

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 – Hybrid in 2022

Congratulations to the 2021 cohort of students from UBC’s Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture who have all completed the program which culminated with their group project presentations.

The program has now started accepting applications for the fall 2022 term. For the first time, the program will be hybrid this year, with students able to attend in-person or remotely. Join our upcoming Information Session on Feb. 3.

News and Views

Collaborating with First Nations

Many First Nations have a long history of sustainable and responsible involvement in aquaculture. The Kitasoo-xaixais First Nation has recently launched their line of products, branded as Klemtu Spirit, which is being distributed nationally by Walmart. As per the BC Provincial government 2018 news release, every marine net pen farm in BC must have an agreement in place with local First Nations by June 2022; thus, by this summer, every farm in BC will be affiliated with a First Nation.

Some activists have lobbied the provincial and federal governments to prevent First Nations from continuing to farm salmon in BC. Some First Nations have been speaking out as reported in this article entitled “Anti-salmon farm activists trample on First Nations’ rights”. Calvin Helin from the Tsimshian Nation states: “We have been watching over our seas and lands for over 10,000 years and we don’t need these big-city folk and activists with huge American foundation money coming up here to tell us what to do.”

Science vs Fiction

Aquaculture is one of the world’s fastest-growing and highly-traded food sectors, according to Nature Food. The academic journal has posted a new series of articles exploring how aquaculture can adhere to One Health principles – recognising the interconnected health and well-being of people, animals, plants and their shared environment.

For those of you who wondered about the accuracy of Netflix’s Seaspiracy, you might enjoy this Aquademia podcast to help you sort fact from fiction. It addresses how data is collected and presented and how industry can be more proactive.

Some anti-aquaculture activists have become accustomed to misrepresenting facts. When they do this, such as the time when they published fake sea lice pictures on a social media campaign, science has stepped up. This article describes how DFO corrected misinformation reported by these same activists about sea lice numbers in the wild.

Future Trends

Regardless of the type of aquaculture farm, land-based or marine-based, AI and IOT technologies are developing rapidly. We will soon be able to determine the size and health condition of every fish at the farm. This article by Global Seafood Alliance provides an overview.

Over the past few years there has been a growing interest towards regenerative farming. Though typically associated with terrestrial agriculture, aquaculture is a prime candidate for regenerative farming as described in this article on seaweed and shellfish farming.

Though many people claim to be able to tell the difference in taste between farmed and wild fish, it is very difficult when the fish are the same species. Nevertheless, this article reveals that many people can taste the difference, and in a blind taste test, they prefer farmed (if they don’t know that it is farmed).