Wharfside May 2016
In this issue Coming together to cope with climate change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Graduates get out in the field. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Two varied jobs for Ed Fellbaum. . . . . . . . . . 3 Testing life jackets on the farms. . . . . . . . . . . 4 Racing season starts this month at Saratoga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Barbecue weather is here! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Radiothon raises $36,941 for kids with special needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Ten years of continued funding for TSSR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Get on a big bike for a good cause. . . . . . . . 6 Open float house. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Did you Know? Port Hardy and Port McNeill celebrate their 50th birthdays this year (Port Alice is their older sister).
Trivia time! How much of a raw apple is water? Answer on Page 4
Comments about this Newsletter? Please email comments, articles and ideas to Ian Roberts, Director of Public Affairs, at ian.roberts@marineharvest.com
Dr. Jim Powell, BC CAHS Executive Director, hosted Barbara Nowak and Tony Farrell
Coming together to cope with climate change Aquaculturists and marine conservationists are equally worried about implications of rising ocean temperatures, and they had the opportunity to share their concerns at a Coping with Warmer Waters workshop. The BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (BC CAHS) and industry sponsors Cargill and Pentair organized the workshop in Campbell River in April. Dr. Tony Farrell, from the University of British Columbia, explained how acclimation can help with small increases in temperature and how greater adaption and thermal tolerance can be achieved through genetic assisted selection in breeding. In the wild salmon situation, Dr Farrell showed that water temperatures witnessed by sockeye salmon on their migration up
the Fraser River last year hit a heat spike of 21°C in July. They determined this by implanting fish in the lower Fraser with temperature ‘buttons’ that recorded internal fish temperature through the migration and retrieved them on the spawning grounds after the fish died. Thankfully, rain storms in mid-July lowered water temperatures in time for spawning. If the high temperatures persisted, it may have impacted the spawning success of the sockeye. While similar local warming events occurred in the 70s and 90s and may have contributed to a decrease in sockeye recruitment, there were not the tools to explain it like this experiment. Dr. Barbara Nowak from the University of Tasmania spoke about the Australian Continued on page 3
Graduates get out in the field
Students tour Marine Harvest’s Okisollo farm
Future fisheries and aquaculture leaders from Vancouver Island University visited Marine Harvest Canada operations at Dalrymple and Okisollo last month. The field trip allowed the graduating students to view both the freshwater and saltwater sides of Atlantic salmon production. Marine Harvest Canada visits the Vancouver Island University (VIU) campus annually to recruit both summer students and graduates for full time year round employment. Each year interest from VIU students wanting to work with MHC 2
increases, as they learn the value of a good paying and rewarding career that salmon aquaculture provides. “We have had exceptional success with the VIU students, both with their technical and practical abilities,” says Tina GarlinskiGonsky, Marine Harvest’s Human Resources Manager. “VIU is producing top quality candidates for both our sea site and hatchery operations.” Last year the company hired eight graduates of VIU’s Fisheries and Aquaculture MarineHarvest.ca
programs, as well as two part-time summer students. This year the company will welcome eight summer students to the team, and is currently hiring full-time employees from the current graduating cohort. Marine Harvest also provides annual tours of its freshwater and saltwater operations to Fisheries and Aquaculture students, so the future graduates can learn firsthand about the business of salmon aquaculture.
Two varied jobs for Ed Fellbaum By Gina Forsyth
Ed Fellbaum is so enthusiastic about working for Marine Harvest that he has two positions with the company. The first is as a crew truck driver on Monday and Tuesday. This involves picking up farm site staff at home and driving them to Englewood, near Port McNeill, where they catch the crew boats that transports them to the farm sites. “The people I drive with are pretty awesome,” said Ed. His second job is with Environmental Performance and Certification as part of the sampling and monitoring team. They collect data such as bottom samples and current information in close proximity to the site or proposed site. “The work is weather dependent so I’m only on-site on the good weather days,” explained Ed. All samples must be taken from within a specific area based on GPS coordinates and when the weather is excessively windy, boat movement makes accurate sampling impossible. “To farm sustainably we must know what the sea floor looks like”, said Ed, adding that the sampling allows them to understand the sea floor.
Ed and Jasper in Hawaii
Prior to joining Marine Harvest, Ed worked for Aquametrix, an environmental sampling company, and also at Timber West’s sawmill. Way back when Ed also worked in the aquculture industry for what was then BC Packers. Ed was born in the Ontario mining city of Sudbury. His father was a miner and they moved to Campbell River sight unseen to allow his father to work at Westmin mine.
The family stayed in Campbell River for three years and then moved to Courtenay, where Ed and his family now live and where Ed graduated from high school. Ed has been married to Trina for more than two decades and they have an eight year-old son, Jasper, who participates in gymnastics, hockey and soccer. Trina works for an accounting firm in Courtenay.
Coming together to cope with climate change Continued from page 1
experience where farmed salmon routinely live in ocean temperatures of about 16°C. One of the challenges is amoebic gill disease (AGD) that requires regular freshwater treatment. As freshwater is scarce, deep water cages are being trialed to access low temperatures and house a ‘snorkel’ of a
small freshwater lens on the surface. As well, a joint government-industry breeding program is selecting salmon for AGD resistance and temperature tolerance. The workshop finished with a practical look at what action wild salmon enhancement MarineHarvest.ca
programs and salmon aquaculture companies in British Columbia can do take protect fish in warmer oceans. More information is available from http://www. cahs-bc.ca/
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Testing life jackets on the farms By Dan Pattison, Health & Safety Coordinator
This month, the Health and Safety Department had a rare opportunity to tour marine sites in our Campbell River and Broughton production areas with representatives from Mustang Survival. Mustang’s Tony McCormick, Manufacturers Representative, and Polly Linbo Zou, Production Development Engineer, addressed concerns, educated staff and completed performance testing on different personal flotation devices (PFDs) in order to best understand the needs of the staff. When asked about his experience with Marine Harvest Canada, Tony stated, “Polly and I had the opportunity to visit 11 of Marine Harvest’s farms and gained some valuable insight into the operations and the challenges facing everyone working at the sites. What is abundantly clear is that Marine Harvest takes safety extremely seriously and is prepared
Tony McCormick, Marine Harvest Health and Safety Manager Blaine Tremblay and Polly Linbo Zou discuss performance requirements and safety factors regarding our commonly used Mustang Survival PFDs.
to do whatever is necessary to limit potential hazards and mitigate risks. We are happy to work with Marine Harvest on exploring ways to ensure the best use of Mustang Survival products as well as to consider the needs of fish farm use in future designs.”
consist of product testing, cooperating in training initiatives at their Vancouver facility and bringing aquaculture needs onto the desk of those who design work jackets.
This is only the first phase of our work with Mustang Survival. Future plans
Racing season starts this month at Saratoga Once again Marine Harvest has four 2016 seasons passes for Saratoga Speedway available to staff on a first come, first serve basis. Races are each Saturday from Saturday May 7 to Saturday October 8.
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Passes are valid for any race meet except for monster truck shows which occur on May 21/22 and July 30/31. Check the race dates at http://saratogaracing.ca/race-schedule/
Barbecue weather is here! Come and support a deserving charity and eat delicious Marine Harvest salmon at the community barbecues. Serving the ever popular salmon burger and the new teriyaki salmon noodle salad, the MHC barbecue trailer will be at these events around the island this summer.
Charity
Date
Location
Serving Time
Campbell River Killer Whales Swim Club Easter Event Done!
26-Mar-16
Campbell River - Spirit Square
Lunch
Mt Washington Ski Club “Royal LePage Snow to Surf” Done!
24-Apr-16
Comox Marina Park
Lunch
Queenesh Elementary PAC School District 71 Elementary School Track Meet
6-May-16
Georges P. Vanier Secondary School, Courtenay
Lunch
Georgia Park Elementary PAC Spring Fun Fair
25-May-16
Campbell River - Georgia Park Elementary School
Dinner
Canadian Cancer Society “Relay for Life - Port Hardy”
28-May-16
Port Hardy - 9350 Granville St.
Dinner
Upper Island Riptide Soccer Tournament (Ages 10-17)
28-May-16
Comox Valley - Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School
Lunch
Campbell River Gymnastics Island Championship Event
29-May-16
Campbell River Gymnastics - 14th & Marwalk Cres.
Lunch
Campbell River Head Injury Support Society Celebration Station - Bike to Work Week
1-Jun-16
Campbell River - Spirit Square
Dinner
Port Hardy Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Centre World Oceans Day
8-Jun-16
Port Hardy - Chamber of Commerce (7250 Market Street)
Lunch
Campbell River Hospice Society Race the River Dragon Boat Festival
25-Jun-16
Campbell River - Dick Murphy Park, Tyee Spit
Lunch
BC Professional FireFighters - Burn Fund Canada Day Celebration
1-Jul-16
Campbell River - Robert Ostler Park
Lunch
Broughton Curling Club Port McNeill Logger Sports
2-Jul-16
Port McNeill - Broughton Blvd Waterfront
Lunch
Port Hardy Volunteer Firefighter Association Filomi Days
16-Jul-16
Port Hardy - Market Street - Carrot Park
Lunch
Sayward Futures Society Oscar Daze Slo-Pitch Tournament
31-Jul-16
Sayward - H’Kusam Park
Dinner
Port McNeill & District Chamber of Commerce OrcaFest
20-Aug-16
Port McNeill
Lunch
BCSPCA Paws for a Cause - Annual Walkathon
11-Sep-16
Campbell River - Nunns Creek Park
Lunch
Campbell River Volunteer Society Volunteer Fair
17-Sep-16
Campbell River - Spirit Square
Lunch
Radiothon raises $36,941 for kids with special needs Marine Harvest Canada gave $2000 to Variety BC to support fundraising efforts by The Eagle 97.3FM. Altogether the Campbell River and Comox Valley communities generously raised close to $37,000 in under 12 hours. MHCers Kevin, Corey, Renee and Andrew get ready for Radiothon.
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Ten years of continued funding for TSSR Tsolum River Restoration Society has notched up a decade of funding from Marine Harvest Canada. Director of Regulatory Compliance and Certification Sharon DeDominicis presented TRRS president Wayne White with a cheque for $5,000.
Get on a big bike for a good cause We need your help... For the second year, the BCSFA is putting together a Big Bike team as a way to raise funds for heart disease - and we’re looking for riders! The BC Salmon Farmers Association is once again partnering with the Heart and Stroke Foundation for their 2016 Big Bike event in Campbell River on Thursday, June 2nd. Each rider must commit to raising $50 or more towards a team goal of at least $1500. For more information, or to register, visit the team page for the BCSFA: Date: Thursday, June 2nd Time: 11:15am (riders please arrive by 10:45am) Where: Tyee Plaza, Campbell River We hope to see your big smile on a Big Bike seat!
Open float house It isn’t easy to visit a float house once installed at a remote farm, so many employees and guests took up the offer to tour the new Shelter Pass barge before it left the Campbell River dock. You can still take a tour online!
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