[LINK] "Is Salmon Raised on Land the Future of Seafood?"

[rfmcdonald]

Joaquin Palomino at National Geographic describes how the Namgis First Nation on Vancouver Island is pioneering environmentally sustainable aquaculture based on land.

For centuries, perhaps millennia, the Namgis First Nation fished a wide and glassy river that barrels into the straits separating Vancouver Island from mainland Canada. According to legend, sockeye salmon were so plentiful that the Namgis could simply redirect the river and trap seemingly endless runs of fish in ponds outside their homes.

Today, sockeye have all but disappeared from the Nimpkish. But a stone's throw away, a warehouse brims with hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon. The fish crowd into pools the color of jade, swim against a steady current, eat pellets that rain down from metal pipes above, and grow plump.

This $7.6 million (U.S.) warehouse is called Kuterra. Owned by the Namgis, it is one of the few commercial-scale, land-based salmon farms in the world. Considered a model for sustainable aquaculture, Kuterra recycles its water, converts its waste into fertilizer, avoids use of pesticides and antibiotics, and relies predominantly on grains and soy for fish food.

"The one word that best describes what we're doing here is 'control,' " says Jo Mrozewski, a company spokesperson. "You control the environment, you control the growth parameters. You can control so many things because you're not exposed to the vagaries of nature."

Roughly 600,000 pounds of Kuterra salmon have been sold since the company's first harvest 14 months ago, and after receiving the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Best Choice" sustainability rating in October, consumer demand has surpassed supply. The fish respond well to the highly regulated system: They grow nearly twice as fast as other farmed Atlantic salmon, and they eat much less food.