Wharfside October 2016
In this issue New fish cleaners improve productivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chilean counterparts visit MHC Saltwater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Don’t miss out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Local looking forward to being a dad and building career. . . . . . . . . . . 3 Building better barges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Aquaculture 2016 draws a crowd. . . . . . . . . . 4 The Great B.C. Shakeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 What is a farmed salmon anyway?. . . . . . . . 5 Trespass charges filed against activists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Over $120,000!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Did you Know? Canada spends about $1 billion dollars on Halloween.
Trivia time! What was the Antonia Banderas movie filmed in Campbell River? 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
New fish cleaners improve productivity The Port Hardy Processing Plant expects to increase the efficiency of salmon processing with the addition of five new fish-cleaners. The Knuro fish cleaners have been installed on every processing line. They are a sophisticated vacuum hose that cleans the belly cavity after the fish has been processed. The first fish cleaner was installed last November. There were very few problems during its commission and operation: it cleans fish well and the machine itself is easy to clean, making it an easy decision to install four more this September. MHC Processing Director Stephen Hall and Maintenance Manager Andy Beech carried out thorough research into the technology before buying the first machine last year. The cost of each machine, with installation, is about $150,000.
“Stephen and I went over to Norway last May. We looked at our plants, and we looked competitors as well. The Knuro fish cleaner offered, in our opinion, the best technology,” Andy says. “We crawled all over them, measuring and inspecting every inch until we were certain they would be a good fit for our plant and a vast improvement on our process.” The Knuro team came to Port Hardy to install the cleaners. They will be serviced and maintained by the plant’s skilled maintenance and tradespeople. “It is a clever machine that knows if a fish hasn’t been cut, it changes movements and sends it back to another line. It appears to be complex but it is very simple, based on measurements fed to it from timing sensors on the other tools,” Andy says.
Chilean counterparts visit MHC Saltwater
Don’t miss out The BC Salmon Farmers Association’s 2016 Annual General Meeting + Business Summit is coming up on October 13th & 14th in Campbell River. Don’t miss this preeminent event for aquaculture in B.C.. Full program details can be found at bcsalmonfarmers.ca/ agm.
Daniel Ceballo, Justin Hobson, Riccardo Gantenbein and Dean Trethewey at Marsh Bay salmon farm
The MHC Saltwater Production team recently hosted two colleagues from our Chilean operations. Daniel Ceballo is the operations manager for Marine Harvest Chile and Riccardo Gantenbein manages its Tenth Region. They came to find out details of how plankton challenges are managed in Canada and to see our new ‘gold standard’ mitigation systems in operation. They visited a number of sites in the Broughton and Port Hardy production areas to understand plankton monitoring and the procedures for dealing with blooms. MHC Saltwater Production Director Dougie Hunter says the visit was a success.
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“It was great to host Riccardo and Daniel here in Canada and show them our plankton mitigation set-up which has been developed over several years. It was also very beneficial to hear their experience from the unfortunate plankton events that occurred in Chile earlier this year.” To complete the week an information day took place in Campbell River where both production teams were able to share bestpractices and discuss common issues faced in production. Riccardo says it was a great opportunity for employees to learn new information. “We were able to share some of the innovation which happens locally to solve some key production challenges,” he says. MarineHarvest.ca
Photo courtesy of BC Salmon Farmers Association
Local looking forward to being a dad and building career busiest warehouse. It is the domain of Isaac Desprez, who is responsible for Warehouse and Logistics across the company. “I like the variety and that the job is everchanging. It keeps me motivated and my problem-solving skills sharp,” he says. Isaac’s main responsibility is managing the goods that arrive at the warehouse, ensuring site orders are correct, consolidating freight and making sure that equipment arrives at every Marine Harvest site safely.
Isaac and his dog Mickey By Gina Forsyth
On the northern outskirts of Campbell River is the Middlepoint Industrial Park, the location of Marine Harvest Canada’s
The Middlepoint warehouse stores everything needed for salmon aquaculture in the Campbell River region. Isaac keeps an extensive inventory of equipment including generators, uplift systems, boats, underwater cameras, lighting and feed equipment. He also oversees the transportation of equipment and materials
to three other MHC warehouses on Vancouver Island. “I appreciate the opportunity for growth that this position offers,” explains Isaac, adding that he’s taking supply chain management courses through correspondence. After graduating from Timberline High School in 2006, Isaac worked at Canadian Tire as a warehouse manager. He left that position to join the team at Marine Harvest. Isaac was born and raised in Campbell River. He continues to make it his home with his wife who works in a local medical office. Isaac plays as much as golf as possible and their four year old German Sharpei cross Mickey keeps them both active. They are expecting their first child in November.
Building better barges Marine Harvest Canada has upgraded six feed barges with state of the art feeding, monitoring and camera technology. These are in addition to introducing new builds for feeding technology and feed storage capacity in remote areas. Marine Projects & Well Boat Manager Dave Pedersen describes 2016 as a challenging year for employees and contractors, some of whom tripled their normal capacity of journeymen and labourers to meet demand. “One of the most exciting things is the investment of millions of dollars into new
builds of centralized feed system barges with large capacity for feed storage for our remote sites with the new feeding systems and camera technology,” Dave says. “Housing has also been a focus for MHC in 2016. We have completely renovated five of our houses and we have updated many other houses with basic renovations as part of preventative maintenance.” “All of MHC and our contractors are looking forward to 2017 as it looks like it will be another busy year,” he says. One of the new builds underway in Campbell River. MarineHarvest.ca
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Aquaculture 2016 draws a crowd The attendance for the Aquaculture Association of Canada (AAC) conference in St John’s, Newfoundland, was the biggest in recent history with about 450 delegates from North America, Africa, South America, Europe and Asia. Talks covered a number of topics including aquatic animal health and integrated pest management, aquaculture and coastal management, the Canadian aquaculture labour market, and marine benthic monitoring. Several Marine Harvest delegates enjoyed a week of Newfoundland weather while catching up with the latest industry trends across the nation.
NAIA Executive Director Mark Lane and AAC president Cyr Couturier present Ruth Salmon (Executive Director, CAIA) with an early retirement gift at the 2016 AAC conference in St John’s.
The Great B.C. Shakeout On October 20 at 10:20am, The Marine Harvest Canada office staff will join thousands of British Columbians by participating in the largest annual earthquake drill known as the Great B.C. Shakeout. According to its website, more than 3,000 earthquakes occur in British Columbia each year. Most are too small to be felt, but the risk of one big enough to cause significant damage is very real. While potential earthquake hazards depend on your location, everywhere in British Columbia is considered high risk relative to the rest of Canada. 4
The Marine Harvest Office Joint Health and Safety Committee is inviting all office staff to visit the board room during the morning of October 19 to refresh personal emergency kits, share preparation information and watch a 25 minute documentary called Preparedness Now which addresses the realistic threat of a quake or tsunami on our shores, including testimonies from professionals and survivors of earthquakes. On October 20 at 10:20am, several radio and TV stations will announce the beginning of the drill and we will “Drop, Cover and Hold On”.
The Shakeout has also been organized to encourage you, your community and your organization to review and update emergency preparedness plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries. We encourage everyone at all corners of our company and community to participate. For more information on how you and your team can participate in this important event contact the Marine Harvest Health and Safety Department or visit www.shakeoutbc.ca.
MarineHarvest.ca Answer: Answer: 13th Warrior
By Dan Pattison, Health & Safety Advisor
What is a farmed salmon anyway? University of Victoria graduate student Michele Patterson is conducting PhD research in which she explores social and cultural values about British Columbia’s farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Her research aims to better understand the varied perspectives of people who are involved with the industry by following the fish along the value chain from production to consumption. She is documenting the values and meanings farmed Atlantic
salmon has for people who touch it along the way. This research may improve dialogue contributing to social license as the sector pursues new and increased market opportunities in Canada and abroad. Michele has spent time on salmon farms and in processing plants in B.C. this year. Next summer’s field work involves connecting with distributors and salespeople, and also eating farmed salmon in restaurants in B.C. and in California.
This three-year project is partially supported by Marine Harvest Canada and Grieg Seafood; along with the national not-for-profit organization Mitacs. Mitacs builds partnerships between the private sector and universities to support industrial and social innovation in Canada. If you would like more information or want to find out how your perspectives might be included in this research, please contact Michele at: patterson.michele1@gmail.com
Trespass charges filed against activists Marine Harvest has filed a Notice of Civil Claim against Alexandra Morton and others for trespass and nuisance as a result of their unlawful boarding of the company’s facilities.
leave and refused to adhere to Marine Harvest’s biosecurity procedures. The defendants’ occupation of Marine Harvest’s facilities amounted to trespass and nuisance.
In August 2016, Ms. Morton and others repeatedly entered upon Marine Harvest’s facilities without permission, refused to
“Our company has always been willing to provide tours of our facilities to interested public, and share information with our MarineHarvest.ca
First Nation partners, conservation organizations, academia and government,” said Vincent Erenst, Managing Director, Marine Harvest Canada. “This said, we cannot stand by and allow individuals to ignore the law and trespass on our facilities.”
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Over $120,000! The 2016 Marine Harvest charitable salmon barbeque season is now complete and total donations for the last six seasons is $123,000!
Applications for the 2017 season will be announced on our website – www. MarineHarvest.ca – in February 2017.
This year, the company assisted 18 Vancouver Island charities. Thank you to all those who volunteered their time to help cook and serve, and to those who brought their healthy appetites and supported these well deserving groups.
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