Regulating and Monitoring British Columbia’s Marine Finfish Aquaculture Facilities 2018 Fisheries and Oceans Pêches et Océans Canada Canada 2 Marine Finfish Aquaculture in BC LOCATIONS OF MARINE FINFISH AQUACULTURE SHARE OF FACILITIES PRODUCTION BIOMASS Marine finfish aquaculture facilities are mainly located around northern and western BY SPECIES Vancouver Island. There are clusters of sites in several areas, such as Clayoquot Sound, the Port Hardy area, the Broughton Archipelago, and the Discovery Islands. All marine Atlantic Salmon finfish aquaculture facilities with a valid licence as of December 31, 2018 are shown 95.7% in the map on the following page. Chinook Salmon 2.7% MARINE FINFISH SPECIES CULTIVATED IN BC Sablefish Most marine finfish aquaculture licences are issued for salmon, with Atlantic Salmon 1.6% (Salmo salar) and Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) being the most commonly farmed fish in BC. Some other species, such as SablefishAnoplopoma ( fimbria), are also cultivated on a smaller scale. Atlantic Salmon is the preferred species for cold water marine finfish cultivation around the world because these fish feed well on pellets, are efficient at converting food to body mass, grow quickly, and are well adapted to the confines of a net pen. HOW FISH FARMING IS REGULATED IN CANADA Fish farming is jointly managed among federal, provincial and territorial governments. How it’s managed varies across provinces and territories. Across Canada, fish farming is managed sustainably under the Fisheries Act. Federal partners work together to make sure fish are healthy and safe to eat. BC PEI Rest of Canada Site Approval Shared Shared Provincial Land Management Provincial Federal Provincial Day-to-day Operations & Oversight Federal Federal Provincial Introductions & Transfers Shared Shared Shared Drugs & Pesticide Approvals Shared Shared Shared Food Safety Federal Federal Federal 3 2018201 Active8 Ma andrin Inactivee Finf Marineish A Finfishquac uAquaculturelture in BSitesri tinis Britishh Co Columbialumbia N ° N ° 1 5 128°W 127°W 126°W 125°W 2 Queen Charlotte Sound Central Coast5 Hope Island Nigei Island Wishart Island W ° 4 Port Hardy Queen Wells Passage 2 Kingcome 1 Charlotte Holberg Inlet Inlet Strait Broughton Island Quatsino Sound Port McNeill Retreat Passage Gilford Island ± Km Turnour Island 0 5 10 20 Knight Inlet Johnstone British Columbia Strait N N ° ° 1 0 5 5 Hardwicke Island Bute Inlet Sayward Thurlow Islands Kyuquot Sound V Sonora Island a Tahsis Discovery Raza Island n Passage Quadra Island Nootka Island c o Campbell River ± Km u 0 175 350 Muchalat Nootka Sound Inlet v Strait of Georgia e Powell River r Pacific Courtenay Jervis Inlet N ° N 0 ° Flores Island 5 9 Ocean 4 I Nelson Island s Clayoquot l Sound Tofino a Sechelt Inlet n Sechelt W d ° 3 2 1 Ucluelet Strait of Georgia Alberni Inlet Nanaimo Barkley Sound Bamfield Vancouver W ° 7 2 1 0 20 40 80 ± Km N ° 9 4 N ° 8 4 1:800,000 Port Renfrew Coordinate System: NAD 1983 BC Environment Albers Produced by DFO Aquaculture Management Division Data: DFO Licensed Facilities as of December 31 2018. Map Published: March 12 2019. This map is for information only and is not to be used for navigational purposes. For a current list of Haro Strait licence holders, visit http://www.pac.dfo- Juan de mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/licence-permis/index-eng.html Fuca Strait Legend Active Licensed Marine Finfish Aquaculture Facilities (80) Inactive Licensed Marine Finfish Aquaculture Facilities (36) 126°W 125°W 48°N 124°W 123°W Reporting Requirements Under the Pacific Aquaculture Regulations, licence holders are required to submit to DFO reports that fall into two broad categories: scheduled reports and event-based reports. All reports are reviewed by DFO to validate content to ensure that they contain all elements required by the licence conditions, and to determine if they were submitted on time. When a report contains only minor administrative omissions or errors and the licence holder corrects these in a timely manner, the reports may be considered complete and on time. 2018 Scheduled Reports Submitted to DFO 1 1 100%1 1 100% 2 1 2 1 90% 19 8 90% 19 8 80% 80% 70% 70% 60% 60% 18 50% 18 50% 115 35 115 77 26 35 34 40% 77 26 34 40% 30% 30% 20% 20% 10% 10% 0% 0% AASR Inventory Mortality by Sea Lice Stock Wild AASR Inventory MortalityPlans by CategorySea Lice CountsStock TransfersWild Mortality Plans Category Counts Transfers Mortality On time and complete Late On time and complete Late 2018 Event Based Reports Submitted to DFO 100% 100% 90% 7 7 12 7 90% 7 12 7 4 7 80% 4 80% 70% 70% 6 60% 6 60% 50% 46 4 3 50% 46 4 3 37 64 40% 37 33 64 29 40% 33 29 30% 8 30% 8 20% 20% 3 10% 3 10% 0% 0% Benthic Containment Escapes Fish Health Incidental Marine Mortality Peak Sea Lice Benthic ContainmentReports ArrayEscapes Plans Fish Health IncidentalEvents CatchMarine MammalsMortality EventsPeak BiomassSea Lice Over Threshold Reports Array Plans Events Catch Mammals Events Biomass Over Threshold On time and complete Late On time and complete Late 5 6 MONITORING AND AUDITS What Happens During In BC, farm operators must Every 3 months, DFO randomly follow a DFO-approved health selects 25% of active* salmon Facility and management plan (HMP). This farms in BC for audit to verify Fisheries and Oceans plan outlines how the farm will records review Auditors use a checkli a Fish Health Audit?results of industry monitoring and st of 60 items to ensure th Canada (DFO) requires manage biosecurity, water quality, e farm is operating as licensed operators of marine medication treatment and other ensure HMPs are followed. and following its HMP: salmon farms to follow measures to maximize fish welfare. The average Fisheriess andtrict mOceanseasures Canadato (DFO) requires operators of marine salmon farms to follow strict measures Collection and classific ation of deceased fish is to keep fishkeep healthyfish healt handy an dconducts routine,Industr yrandom must mo nisitetor tinspectionshe health to ensurecomplian compliance.ce rate is 98%. frequent conducts routine, of their fish and report their random site *An active farm is one that has had at least 3 full pens In BC, farm operators must follow a DFO-approvedfindings to DFO. Health Management oPlanf fish fo (HMP).r at least 30 Thisdays of plana calendar outlines quarter. how inspections to ensure the farm will manage biosecurity, water quality, medication treatment and other measures to maximize fish Fish behaviour and h compliance. ealth are monitored welfare. Industry must monitor the health of their fish and report their findings to DFO. Bio security protocols, such as equipment disinfection, visitor restriction and t he use of foot baths, are SAMPLING AND OBSERVATION followed A team of 2 or 3 DFO biologists spend about 4 hours on each site. Auditors observe fish in each pen, noting any behaviour or signs that might indicate Feed , nutrition and medicatio 1 poor health, such as slow swimming or visible abnormalities. They then select n records are complete and up to dat up to 10 recently deceased fish (called “silvers”) for sampling. e Water quality is monito red routinely and can be TISSUE COLLECTION addressed if needed Tissue samples are taken on site and then sent to a laboratory accredited by the Standards 2 Council of Canada and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. Any deficiencies are noted and reviewed with t he farm operator so that improvements can be made. Results a pu re also reported LAB ANALYSIS blicly on DFO’s website. The lab analyzes samples for specific viruses and health conditions of concern, DFO p erforms about 120 fish 3 including infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISA), Infectious Hematopoietic health audits each year. Necrosis virus (IHNv), and heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI). On average, the indu stry compliance rate is 98% REVIEW AND PUBLISH RESULTS Results are reviewed by DFO veterinarians and reported on DFO’s website at: 4 www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/protect-protege/reduce-disease-reduire-maladie-eng.html Certain serious infectious diseases, such as ISA and IHNv, are listed under the Health of Animals DFO’s regulation and monitoring of aquaculture in BC supports an environmentally Act. If found, they must be reported immediately to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which ! investigates and develops a plan to prevent the disease from spreading. sustainable industry that helps remove pressure from wild salmon stocks. LEARN MORE AT www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/index-eng.html 7 HOW DFO INSPECTS FISH HEALTH AT BC AQUACULTURE SITES Auditors use a checklist of 60 items to ensure a farm is operating as licensed and following its HMP. Any deficiencies are noted and reviewed with the farm operator so that improvements can be made. Results are also reported publicly on DFO’s website. FISH BEHAVIOUR AND HEALTH are monitored WATER QUALITY is monitored routinely and can be addressed if needed BIOSECURITY PROTOCOLS such as equipment disinfection, visitor restriction and the use of footbaths, are followed COLLECTION & CLASSIFICATION of deceased fish is frequent and acceptable FEED, NUTRITION & MEDICATION RECORDS are complete and up-to-date Results are reviewed by DFO veterinarians and reported on DFO’s website at: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/protect-protege/reduce-disease-reduire-maladie-eng.html 8 2018 DFO FISH HEALTH MANAGEMENT PLAN INSPECTIONS This figure summarizes the 35 deficiencies observed during Fish Health Management Plan inspections by DFO in 2018. A total of 120 Health Management Plan (HMP)