Tracey Perry, Event Co-Chair |
Participants at the St. Alban's sessions |
Dr. Daryl Whelan, DFA |
Allison MacKinnon, Aqua Health Ltd. |
Harold Murphy, NSGA |
|
In St. Alban's, discussions centered
around the farming of Rainbow Trout and Atlantic Salmon. Dr. Daryl Whelan and
Allison MacKinnon began the day with a discussion of biological threats to a farm site and
ways of detecting and controling these threats. Harold Murphy of the Newfoundland
Salmonid Growers Association stated that funding agencies should realize that expenditures
that seem excessive in the first instance may be a great cost saving to the business over
the long term. One case cited is the cost of a barge used to transport feed and
other supplies to a remote site. He urged people in positions that control the purse
strings to gain a full and indepth knowledge of the aquaculture industry and not to
attempt to compare it with a similar industry.
Vern Pepper, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, spoke about Aquaculture Science: An
Engine of Industry Sustainability in which he pointed out the importance of research to
develop a competitive aquaculture industry. Tom Taylor, Shur Gain, spoke about the
various husbandry techniques to prevent early maturation.
The plenary session facilitated by David Rideout of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry
Alliance developed the following recommendations:
- Develop a marketing plan to ensure a consistent price and increase consumer appeal
- Increase access to capital financing - public and private
- Attract investment
- Diversify to other species - cod, halibut, etc.
- Forge alliances with others in the marketplace
- Value-added product development
- Improvements needed in existing government programs
- Increase critical mass
- Market the region internationally as a good place to invest
- Upgrade infrastructure
- Make aquaculture a national priority, and
- Install signage designating the Coast of Bays as the "Aquaculture Capital of
Newfoundland and Labrador".
|
