VEGREVILLE, Alta. – Forget canola, ginseng or emus. Farmers next diversification venture may be fish.
With a worldwide shortage of fish, scientists at the Alberta Research Council are looking at ways of fish farming on the Prairies.
“It’s a prairie diversification alternative,” said Wendell James, research engineer with the Environmental Technologies department.
Based on world population growth, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that within 25 years, 40 percent of the global demand for seafood products will have to be supplied by aquaculture rather than from wild fisheries.
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Aquaculture, or fish farming, is one of the fastest growing segments of the agriculture industry.
But before Alberta farmers bet their next million on rainbow trout, there are problems scientists have to work out, he said.
Because waste and ammonia are some of the biggest byproducts of fish farming, the scientists have to figure out the most economical way to raise the fish, yet keep a clean fresh water supply recirculating through the fish tanks.
Make cost worthwhile
“We have to figure out how higher-technology treatments can be used effectively. We have to justify the capital cost of the equipment,” said James.
Now it would cost about $300,000 to set up a fish farm. Most of the fish grown in the province are finger-sized rainbow trout and are used to stock farm dugouts or lakes. It takes about a year to grow a pan-sized rainbow trout.
Work must be done to grow a higher-priced fish like Arctic char to make the fish farm economical, he said.
“If we can demonstrate a market for Arctic char then the development of smaller facilities will be practical.”
