DFO has released a new report which assesses the economics of closed containment systems for farming salmon. The report assesses the economics of nine different technologies. It identifies the current standard of net pen ocean systems and recirculating on-land aquaculture systems as the only two technologies likely to show positive returns. The capital costs for net pen operations would sit around $2,000 per tonne of product, while land-based closed containment systems would raise that price to over $9,000/t, with no increase in return. The analysis shows that any revenues from closed-containment facilities would be much more susceptible to exchange rates, for example, with change significantly impacting income. The BC Salmon Farmers Association has acknowleded that full life-cycle closed-containment warrants further investigation, but argues that a lot more information is needed before it can be considered a viable alternative. Report available here

TAGS:sustainable, aquaculture, economics, BC salmon, closed containment systems, BC Salmon Farmers, DFO report, fisheries

Daniel Pauly's famous model of "fishing down the food web" has come under attack by an international group of scientists in a recent paper in Nature. The Pauly trophic level measure for assessing the state of the world’s oceans and fisheries led to inaccurate conclusions in nearly half the ecosystems where it was applied according to this new analysis.Trevor Branch, who led the recent study, says that "Applied to individual ecosystems it’s like flipping a coin, half the time you get the right answer and half the time you get the wrong answer." According to Branch and colleagues, relying on changes in the average trophic level of fish being caught won’t tell us when fishing is sustainable or if it is leading to collapse. That’s because when harvests of everything increase about equally, the average trophic level of what is caught remains steady. The same is true if everything is overfished to collapse. More here

TAGS: Overfishing, sustainable fishing, fisheries, trophic level, Trevor Branch, Daniel Pauly,Nature

Surprise! Surprise! EU backs down from plan to save threatened bluefin tuna. EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki had been proposing drastic cuts to save the bluefin tuna in line with scientific advice. But after a meeting with member state representatives she has been forced to climb down from her conservation position. France, Spain and other Mediterranean nations forced her to retreat Thursday from her ambitious plan. Commissioner Damanaki said her latest negotiating mandate "is not based on the Commission's proposal," which had focused on recommendations from scientists. She now must defend a position at a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, that she does not agree with."Nevertheless, the Commission will respect its obligations as the negotiator on behalf of the European Union," she said in a statement.  More on the EU hypocrisy here

TAGS: bluefin tuna, EU Backs Down,  EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki , ICCAT, conservation not the objective, sustainable, fishing, fisheries

World renowned fisheries scientist Dr. Brian Rothschild has sharply criticized the US "catch shares" program. He claims that  the rush to create a catch share commodities market in New England's groundfishery has meant a transfer of "public resources to private individuals" yielding an unnecessary government-made "economic crisis." Rothschild argues that the catch share program, which took effect last May 1, was implemented illegally, prematurely and somewhat cavalierly "without the level of analysis, planning, budgeting and community dialog that would be expected of a major federal action." He noted that the Magnuson-Stevens Act states that no "conservation and management measure ... shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose." More here at the Gloucester Times.

TAGS: Brian Rothschild, USA fisheries, catch shares, New England groundfish, economic allocation, sustainable, fishing, fisheries