|
KLEMTU,
B.C. October 2008 -- Kitasoo Seafoods Ltd. has been in business with
Marine Harvest Canada for ten years now. “In the mid 90’s Marine
Harvest and Kitasoo came together and they’ve been working together
since then, and it’s been great for the community,” said Les Neasloss,
MHC employee, former elected chief of the Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation.
“Since Marine Harvest came into play with us we’ve had a good
turn-around. I know that the world appetite for salmon is great and now
that we are farming it and feeding the world appetite for it we are
hoping that we can keep the wild salmon. The work has made a difference
in the lifestyles of our people. It’s been great.”
Ben
Robinson is the general manager of Kitasoo Seafoods. He said farm sites
always require a lot of maintenance. Marine Harvest Canada has about 12
to 14 people employed on the jointly owned farm sites. The jointly
owned processing plant operates inclusive of farmed fish harvests but
not exclusively on the harvests of Atlantic salmon. The plant employs
three dozen people, and while the salmon is popular with consumers;
even so, “We continue to get the objections but we just want to move
forward and whatever the powers-to-be in other communities decide is
their business, their choices.”
Kitasoo
is in the business as an economic development happening in their water
and they are part owners, and full-time managers, “We’re not political,
and we don’t campaign. When we receive criticism we point to the
problem fishery under DFO management,” in which Kitasoo members saw
their part dwindle away to nil like everybody else.
Ben
said, “If the product is bad, why does the Canadian government give us
an export license,” and CFIA approvals on the commodity for Canadian
and American consumers? “The big picture is what happened to the entire
fishing industry around the world. The food industry is reduced to
having wild stocks of fish as a small percentage all over the world.”
He
added, “It’s not just salmon, it’s everything. It’s not coming back,
the local wild stuff. People want to hang on to something that was
there, and is not there anymore. I fished commercial for 40 years and
continue to wait for it to come back,” although he divested of large
expenses like the fishing boat.
“I
kept it for years and kept it waiting for fish to come back. These
people remember the really good times and they need to blame somebody
and the farmers are to blame,” which doesn’t change commercial fishing,
as it had been conducted, and is today, which is, “a lost dream.” He
said if you chart any seafood, fish, prawns, or oysters, the food
consumption by humans is met by aquaculture.
Klemtu
on Swindle Island has a population of 400 members in town, and a band
membership 500. It takes commitment and Kitasoo members are committed
to preserving the community for future generations.
The
success of present day Kitasoo operations hearkens to the
self-sufficiency of the old. The Kitasoo processing plant is used to
process seaweed harvests, “They dry and chop it. They use it as a
garnish to sprinkle on rice and salmon, and add the oolichan grease.”
The
Kitasoo have to trade for oolichan. “We trade for oolichan with dried
herring roe or kelp product. We get the fish from Nass River and the
Kitimat Haisla trade with us, and they have oolichan in the Kingcome
Inlet.” In eating oolichan you
eat the whole fish, found by some to taste like giant French fries. “So
greasy and rich, apparently the Omega 3 is good for you.”
Ian
Roberts of Marine Harvest Canada used to be the area manager of the
Marine Harvest Canada/Kitasoo/Xai’xais farms and moved into
communications a couple of years ago. “In 2008 jointly farm and process
over 10 million pounds of salmon each year, shipping the salmon to
destinations in Canada and the United States.”
Roberts
said the jointly owned farms in Kitasoo waters, the processing plant in
Klemtu, and harvesting vessels altogether employ nearly 60 people and
have reduced unemployment from 90 percent to around 40 percent. Lauren
Edgar, a farm technician, explained, “I like fish farming. My dad used
to work on a fish farm when I was younger, one of the first farms in
Klemtu. I used to spend weekends on the site with him, so, guess I’m
second generation fish farmer.”
mailto:benrobinson@telus.net
|
