Wharfside
November 2014
Our house, in the middle of the Strait
In this issue Our house, in the middle of the Strait. . . . . . 1 Exciting times for MHC breeding program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Crew van driver proud of his drive for success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Wild Whales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Atom ‘A’ Tyees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Drive Safe this Winter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Salmon BBQ at Port McNeill’s OrcaFest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Gone to the dogs, but it’s all good!. . . . . . . . . 5 Marine Harvest Charity Salmon Barbeque has raised $81,000. . . . . . 6
Did you Know? A group of frogs is called an army.
Trivia time! How many seconds are there in one year? Answer on Page 4
Comments about this Newsletter? Please email comments, articles and ideas to Ian Roberts, Communications Manager at ian.roberts@marineharvest.com
The first ever purpose-built house and feed storage shed is currently being constructed in Campbell River. The impressive structure, built by Pacific Float, will be a welcome addition to the Port Hardy area when it arrives on site later this year. The comfortable staff accommodation and fish feed storage unit is 38.8 metres long, 15.2 metres wide, and can hold up to 380 tonnes of fish feed. As the unit will be shared between two sites – Bell and Duncan – the large amount of feed storage will be critical to the operations. The second story living accommodations boasts six bedrooms, spacious living area, kitchen, laboratory, and washrooms. Laundry facilities are also included. To ensure minimal use of diesel fuel required to run the generator at feeding time, a battery invertor system will supply all electrical needs in the mornings and evenings. The barge will be housed at the Bell Island tenure, but will also act as a mustering point
and feed storage for the nearby Duncan site. An AKVA feeding system will distribute feed to fish at Bell, while feed boats will load up with feed before departing for Duncan. Both sites will monitor feed delivery with surface and underwater cameras, and can be viewed at the cage or within the comfort of the accommodation and feed boats. The building’s design has considered the company’s strict biosecurity protocols, especially important as the single unit will service both Bell and Duncan sites. This simply means the farming activities of each site will not come into contact with each other. Port Hardy’s production manager, Darren Ingersoll, is very excited to have the new addition to his area. “This will be the first specially designed house built to accommodate two farms,” says Darren. “It will feed one site by a state of the art feeding system, while also serving as a home base for Duncan Island.”
Exciting times for MHC breeding program By Yvonne Sheehan, Brood Program Manager
Marine Harvest Canada’s brood program team reached a milestone last month at the Port Hardy Processing Plant (PHPP), when the first ever Performance Evaluation Harvest (PEH) was carried out with the help of plant staff. This is the harvesting of select fish from known 2013 yearclass families created in the fall of 2011. The purpose is to collect information on performance traits that are of value to cost of production and quality to the customer.
These families began when select brood were spawned at MHC’s Glacial Creek site and the eggs transferred to Fresh Water Farms for fertilization and incubation. The pedigreed group was formed by combining equal numbers of eyed eggs from each family to be held separately through the transfer as smolt to Potts Bay site where they were raised to the company’s marine production standards until normal harvest size. The PEH fish were harvested by stun and bleed and processed at PHPP. A purpose made processing line in our Sterling room was the place to be for 6 days of relentless data capture. Each fish had records taken for whole weight, length (automatically scanned and recorded on a length board designed by Trevor Dawes), gutted weight, sex, mature status, and physical condition, while also having DNA samples extracted. The DNA sample, once processed, will tell us the strain and family identification for each fish. Information from this harvest will be used to decide the matings of their sibling broodstock for fall spawning 2015 and to map the predicted gains of our goals for faster growth and reduced maturity. It is an exciting time for our breeding program as it is the first time phenotypic data has been recorded in conjunction the genetic identity of our fish. A breeding program takes a long term view of improved productivity, and this allows the predicted gains to be incorporated into our production plans.
Fish length is automatically scanned on MHC’s custom designed board 2
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The Performance Evaluation Harvest set up at Port Hardy Processing Plant
I would like to thank all who helped collect the data from our freshwater team: Paul Kendrick, Matt Morgan, Barry Holmes, Renee Hamel, Trenna Lussier, Seth Gunderson, and Jody Shields, and the PHPP team: Janet Parsons, Pam McDermott, Gary Bowyer, Al Cyr, Ang Kraweitz, Marnie Godmaire, Karen Tobin, Kathy Baker, Leslie Henry, Judy Andrews, Mike Strasdine, Andy Beech.
Crew van driver proud of his drive for success After the van arrives at Englewood and the staff board the crew boat, Mark is kept busy throughout the day while he waits for the outgoing crew to arrive at the Englewood dock. His priority each day is to ensure the crew van is kept in tip-top shape, but he may also assist his colleagues by driving forklift and helping in the warehouse and yard. Mark Simonson, Crew Van Driver By Gina Forsyth
English-born Mark Simonson is a selfdescribed “class one professional driver”. Driving comes naturally and is something he loves, regardless of the weather. And this is certainly fortunate for Marine Harvest and its employees. As crew van driver, Mark transports Broughton area site staff safely to the Englewood warehouse near Port McNeill, where the crew boat departs. Since he began with Marine Harvest in March 2014, Mark has made the 500 km long round trip three days a week. “Safety is paramount and it’s important that our employees know they have reliable transportation to and from the farm sites,” Mark said.
At the end of the day he does the trip in reverse – safely returning the outgoing crew to their destinations that evening. Mark was born in the London and, after completing the Canadian equivalent of grade 12, became an apprentice paper maker. “I made bank notes for six years,” said Mark with a laugh. A change in career saw him driving truck and delivering a variety of items, including high-end fashions and wine, but a major drawback was being kept away from home regularly. He found a stay-at-home position with a book distribution company in south-west London and honed his organization, team building and supervisory skills over the
next 23 years. When the company scaled back, Mark decided to go back to driving. Mark met his partner Sue four years ago while visiting his father, who has lived in the Comox Valley for many years. “I moved here lock, stock and barrel when I was granted permanent residency,” he said. Sue and Mark now have a blended family of eight children. Sue has eight grandchildren and Mark’s first grandchild is due in February. Mark volunteers with Courtenay Fire Department, which he finds the perfect opportunity to give back to the community. Sue and Mark also help out at Santa’s workshop on days off repairing bikes for Santa to deliver at Christmas. Mark loves to play football (soccer) and was recently a part of the bronze medal winning soccer team at the B.C. Senior Games. Golfing, Dragon Boating and fishing are some of the other hobbies Mark enjoys. “We have a great team of drivers at Marine Harvest, and I’m proud to be one of them,” adds Mark.
Mark leaves his home in Courtenay in the ten seat company van about 5:50am and picks up employees living in Comox, Cumberland and Campbell River. He leaves Campbell River at approximately 7:15am, after he has loaded “people and food”. The group arrives at their destination a couple of hours later.
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Wild Whales
Atom ‘A’ Tyees Ian Mills and the Atom ‘A’ Tyees would like to thank Marine Harvest for their generous sponsorship – we are proud to have Marine Harvest as a member of our team!
Jilann Lechner, Ashley Keegan, Andrea Powell, Natalie Reichenbacher and Jasmine Mason from Wild Whales are joined by Marine Harvest’s John Ilett, Katherine Dolmage, and Mike Robson
Several guides from Vancouver’s Wild Whales whale-watching company visited Marine Harvest’s facilities in October to learn about how British Columbia’s salmon farms operate. The group toured a recirculating aquaculture system near
Sayward before visiting Okisollo salmon farm near Campbell River. Much thanks to site managers Graeme Bull and John Ilett for taking the time to meet and tour the group about their operations.
Drive Safe this Winter By James Rogers, Safety Advisor, Marine Harvest Canada
Winter is coming and road conditions are worsening. Black ice can be extremely hazardous and when temperatures dip below 7° the rubber in all-weather tires becomes hard and loses traction. These facts will increase the risk of vehicle accidents.
your passengers. Your brain is the most important personal protective equipment that you have. Stay safe. See our blog for more information on winter driving safety tips at http:// www.marineharvestcanada.com/ blog/2014/10/24/safe-driving-tips-forcanadas-winter/
Anyone who travels on the North Island can see that Marine Harvest drivers are likely some of the safest and most prepared drivers on the road, but every time that you get behind the wheel you are responsible for the safety of yourself and
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Answer: 31,557,600
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Marine Harvest’s salmon charity salmon barbeque was a popular spot at Port McNeill’s OrcaFest this summer. The Marine Harvest volunteer team raised a whopping $1183.50, which was turned over to the North Island food bank (Harvest Food Bank). On hand to deliver the cheque to Cheryl Elliot (green jacket) from the Harvest Food Bank was (l-r) Matt Miller, Marnie Godmaire, Ronita Prasad, Erin Klatt, Karen Tobin, and Kathy Baker. Not pictured, are Roger King and Pam McDermott, who also volunteered at the BBQ.
Gone to the dogs, but it’s all good! Marine Harvest’s Isaac Desprez was happy to hand deliver a cheque for $1500 to SPCA alumni. The company’s donation is in addition to the $650 Isaac and the Ashcroft family raised by cooking up delicious salmon burgers at the SPCA Paws for a Cause event held in Campbell River in September. Isaac met with Stephanie Arkwright, Campbell River SPCA branch manager, just before the renovated facility was set to open. Stephanie commented that Marine Harvest’s donation was a significant help in getting the new SPCA centre up and running before winter.
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$81,000! This past summer, the Marine Harvest salmon barbeque cooked up $31,000 of support for local charities. The support we received from residents of Port Hardy, Black Creek, Port McNeill, Campbell River and the Comox Valley was incredible - thank you!
societies. We look forward to serving you again in 2015! Applications for the 2015 season will be available at our website in February.
Since 2011, the Marine Harvest charity salmon barbeque has raised $81,000 for dozens of local, deserving charities and
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