Canada: Fish farming company in B.C. calls for closed containment pens

VANCOUVER (The Canadian Press).- A salmon farming company operating on B.C.'s Central Coast is joining environmental groups in demanding action on closed-containment fish farm programs.

Marine Harvest Canada, which operates farms in the Broughton Archipelago, says the provincial government must invest a minimum of $10 million toward the development of commercial-scale closed containment projects.

The company has also pledged to co-ordinate the stocking of its farms in the Broughton Archipelago to ensure the pens hold fewer fish when wild salmon fry pass on their way to the open ocean.

There's concern sea lice from open-pen fish farms can jump to wild salmon with lethal results.

Conservation groups are cautiously optimistic about plans by Marine Harvest to create safer migratory routes for wild salmon.

The groups are now urging Mainstream Canada, another fish farm operator in the region, to join the interim protection plan.

Source: http://canadianpress.google.com