SRD directors re-think, offer Grieg compromise

By Dan MacLennan, Courier-Islander

Grieg Seafood will receive rezoning approval to locate a huge fish farm next to Johnstone Strait, but there are closed containment strings and other measures attached.

Grieg had applied to the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to rezone two sites - Gunner Point and Yorke Island - near the Johnstone Strait mouth of Sunderland Channel north of Sayward. Each site was to accommodate up to 700,000 Atlantic salmon.

The company and supporters said the farms would create much needed jobs, including those at Quadra Island's Walcan Seafoods.

Opponents said the location couldn't be worse for a large farm and associated sea lice because the area is a bottleneck for wild salmon migrating out from Georgia Basin watershed.

In response to the wealth of concerns raised through two public hearings, Grieg pledged to establish new zero-lice levels on the farms prior to wild smolt migrations; harvest would be completed before the migrations; underwater lights would not be used during the migration period and Grieg would operate only one of the two farms at a time.

Before the meeting started, two women dressed as fish drew honks from passing traffic as they waved signs saying 'Save Our Kids' and 'Vote Wild'.

Only SRD rural directors could vote on the rezoning bylaw when it came up at Thursday's meeting. The gallery at the Maritime Heritage Centre included dozens of supporters and opponents.

Quadra Island Director Jim Abram said he'd never been a proponent of major industrialization in his area but it was important to balance the needs and wishes of opponents with the jobs the industry provided. He said the SRD had an opportunity to leverage innovation from the industry.

"I view this site as a test," he said. "A test that could advance fish farming into a new era or prove that wild and farmed salmon cannot co-exist."

Abram put forward an amended rezoning approval motion whereby Grieg, in its application to Fisheries and Oceans, would agree to meet the conditions it had previously pledged to meet. Grieg also had to agree to extensive and ongoing monitoring of sea lice on wild salmon on migration routes near the site and all data gathered will be made public.

The motion called for Grieg to operate only the Gunner Point site. It also required Grieg to sign a letter of undertaking "that the site will be converted to closed containment technology as soon as it is commercially available." The motion also encouraged the use of the Gunner Point fish farm as a test site. The motion passed with Abram, Cortes Director Noba Anderson, and Area D Director Brenda Leigh voting in favor. Sayward/Nootka alternate Director Richard Glover voted against.

Afterwards, Ruby Berry of the Georgia Strait Alliance said she appreciated how difficult the decision must have been, as well as Abram's attempt to find a middle ground, but she said the decision left her with major concerns.

"This is the bottleneck and we're putting (in) a huge farm, this farm is bigger than any of the other farms in the area already," she said. "That's been approved with some conditions, but there's not clear enforcement about what happens if those conditions are not met and we're not even sure those conditions are actually going to be effective.

"The other concerns is I would really like to see a definition of 'commercially viable closed containment'. There are people growing salmon commercially in closed containment now, but the industry claims it needs to be big enough for them, it needs to be profitable enough for them. Those are really questionable measurements. I want to see real measurements about when they need to move to closed containment. They'll argue that 'til the cows come home, 'til the fish don't come home. There's just too many nebulous questions."

Grieg's managing director Peter Gibson, however, said the motion was a fair compromise.

"I think that we are open to closed containment technology that's available and viable, and that we would be willing to trial that at Gunner Point if it was available for us to use," he said. "Our main task as a company is to consider the public's concerns and to help solve those concerns as much as we can. I think that by accepting what was put forward today, that would be good for us too.

"It's a compromise and it's a way for us to move forward."

The motion gave third reading to the rezoning application. Grieg must submit its letter of undertaking before the SRD board will give final approval.

Article via Canada.com