A RECORD YEAR FOR B.C. FARMED SALMON
Nearly 80 million kilograms harvested, with most to U.S., new Asian markets
B.C.’s farmed-salmon sector is expanding its international markets as 2016 export values hit a record high and seafood demand grows globally.
“What I’ve seen happen, not just with our business but with all producers, is we are really trying to diversify,” Dave Mergle, managing director of Ocean Quality North America Inc., said from Burnaby on Friday.
Ocean Quality is the sales organization for Grieg Seafood and Bremnes Seashore. Mergle sells salmon grown at 27 farms around Vancouver Island, including from Skuna Bay, a high-end product.
“We are really trying to develop markets other than just our domestic market here in North America,” Mergle said.
Atlantic salmon raised in the cold waters around the Island are showing up in high-end restaurants and on dinner plates in countries such as the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands and Jamaica.
Members of the Salmon Farmers Association hold 106 of the 109 licensed and tenured finfish aquaculture facilities on B.C.’s coast. Of those, 60 to 70 are typically operating, said Sabrina Santoro, communications manager for the association.
The fish farming industry, many partnering with First Nations, directly employ 2,362 workers, she said.
The 77.8 million kilograms of B.C. farmed salmon harvested last year was valued at $746 million, the Salmon Farmers Association said.
A total of 55.7 million kilograms was exported to a 12 countries. Its value topped $544 million, up from 2015’s record of $431.6 million.
The U.S. remains the main consumer, but markets in Asia are showing strong growth, doubling year over year in some countries, the Salmon Farmers Association said. Asian markets took 4.7 million kilograms of farmed salmon last year, up by 40 per cent over what had been a record in 2015.
China and Japan took the largest shares. South Korea bought more than 82,000 kilograms, marking the first time that country purchased B.C. farmed salmon. The sales followed the 2015 Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
Demand for B.C. farmed salmon is enormous, Mergle said.
“It is a really healthy industry economically,” he said. “Aquaculture and farmed-salmon volume and supplies are growing and have continued to grow quite substantially over the years.”
New markets are being tested. For example, Ocean Quality has sent B.C. farmed salmon to Lebanon. “We really have become very much an export-focused business,” Mergle said.
Ocean Quality sends six to seven per cent of its production to Asia, with the U.S. taking about 84 per cent, and Canada 10 per cent.
That’s a change from three years ago when Canada took 20 per cent, the U.S. 75 per cent, and the remainder elsewhere, he said.
A lot of effort has gone into building a strong reputation in China for B.C.-grown salmon, Mergle said.
“We have all worked hard to develop those Asian markets.”
China is the main focus, Mergle said. “It’s a healthy growing economy. The middle class is becoming more affluent. There is more consumption of proteins and certainly quality fresh products. There is just way more and better logistics channels to enable us to get fish to China faster than we could in the past.”
Salmon is raised around the Island, processed in local fish plants, and trucked to Vancouver where it is flown to Asian markets. But this year, Mergle anticipates harvest volumes in Canada will be down slightly. Factors such as a warm body of water called the “blob” in the Pacific Ocean and algae blooms can all affect fish health.
On the other hand, improvements in husbandry and harvesting strategies are expected to at least double Ocean Quality’s volume in 2018, he said.