October 18, 2006 -
VANCOUVER - Chilean economist Rodrigo Pizarro has a warning for B.C. consumers and business - watch out for those big fish in the aquaculture industry.
Mr. Pizarro, Executive Director of the Fundacion Terram, a Chilean environmental research organization, says B.C.’s aquaculture is going down the same path as Chile’s, where a few big industry fish are swallowing up small firms, leading to fewer jobs and fewer economic benefits in the long run.
“It begs the question - what sort of economic benefits does this industry bring to either Chile or British Columbia?” Mr. Pizarro said.
Mr. Pizarro will address the B.C. Select Standing Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture in Vancouver on Wednesday, October 18. An economist trained at the London School of Economics, his trip to B.C. is co-sponsored by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform.
Chile has a large aquaculture industry and is a major supplier of farmed salmon to the North American market. Mr. Pizarro’s research shows that while production has risen, costs and employment have been kept down.
Consumers should also be aware that it takes between 2.5 and eight wild fish to make the feed for every farmed salmon they eat, says Mr. Pizarro. In Chile, eight kilograms of smaller fish (anchovies, mackerel and others) are required to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon. In B.C., the ratio appears to be 2.5 to one, although verifiable data is lacking. This puts pressure on the fisheries of many species and is ultimately not sustainable, he said.
Mr. Pizarro has expertise in the areas of environmental economics, macroeconomics, institutional development, cost benefit analysis, evaluation of public policies and economic valuation.
Jay Ritchlin, marine campaign strategist for the David Suzuki Foundation, says Mr. Pizarro’s research has special relevance for Canada, since this country is part of the global demand for fish that go into fishmeal.
“To be a responsible global player, we should focus our aquaculture industry on non-carnivorous species like shellfish, tilapia and others that do not use up more fish than they produce,” Mr. Ritchlin says.
Both Mr. Pizarro and Mr. Ritchlin will be presenting to the standing committee, which is meeting at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, please contact:
Don Hauka,
Communications Specialist
David Suzuki Foundation
604-732-4228 ext. 238
dhauka@davidsuzuki.org
