Alexandra Morton 8:15am Nov 21
Well, well, well the aquaculture industry did not get the federal legislation they have been lobbying for - is there a backroom deal somewhere, or is the dirty little Norwegian salmon farming industry loosing its grip?
Thursday, November 21, 2013
There Oughta Be A Law
The Department of Fisheries is levying $815,000 in new fees on B.C. aquaculture but stopped short of proposing national legislation to standardize fish farming practices.
The department for the first time detailed a schedule of proposed fees for fish farmers, including a flat $100 charge for salmon producers with an additional “access to water” fee of $2.50 a tonne, to $5 per hectare for shellfish.
The federal department assumed regulation of commercial fish farming in British Columbia on Dec. 19, 2010 and has since attempted to draft a fee schedule.
“They consulted and it took years,” said Roberta Stevenson, executive director of the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association. “The bureaucracy is so overloaded and so slow that something as simple as charging $100 to operate took years to figure out. How are we supposed to make any progress on the real issues?”
Fisheries Minister Gail Shea did not comment.
Stevenson said the fees appeared modest, and likened the charges to a standard fishing license fee – “as if we are going out and catching cod,” she said. “We are farmers; we work yearlong. The system isn’t really fitting well for us, and until it does there will be no growth.”
Aquaculture in British Columbia alone is estimated at $534 million annually by federal regulators. Operators have appealed for stand-alone legislation to unify industry practices beyond amendments to the Fisheries Act.
“This process has highlighted the need for an aquaculture act,” said Colleen Dane, spokesperson for the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.
The 2013 budget proposed a $57.5 million review of aquaculture regulations. The Canadian industry has grown 52 percent in the past decade to an estimated $2 billion annually.
Farmed salmon is B.C.’s largest single agricultural export, according to producers.
By Kaven Baker-Voakes BAYLOCKS
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