A Marine Harvest Canada entourage converged on the Regional District of Mount Waddington office for the
Jan. 19 board of directors’ meeting.Ian Robertson, director of public affairs, Dean Dobrinsky, director of human
resources, and Stephen Hall, processing director, were on hand to update the board on what the company has
been up to in the last year.”December of 2014 was the last time I was here,” Roberts said.Roberts explained
that globally Marine Harvest produces about 20 per cent of the world’s farm-raised salmon which is sold in 70
markets. Last year, they produced about 430,000 tonnes.The company’s sales were $3.9 billion in 2015 and
their earnings were $559 million before taxes. Seventy per cent of those sales were in the United States, 25 per
cent in Canada, and five per cents to the Asian market, a number the company is hoping to increase, Roberts
said.The company employs 11,700 people, in 23 countries. On Vancouver Island, Marine Harvest Canada
employs 510 people, with 137 living in the regional district where hiring locally is a big priority.Of those 137
North Island employees, 60 work at sea sites and 77 work at the processing plant in Port Hardy.Dobrinsky said
the average age of employees in the company is 37.”In Port Hardy the average age is closer to 30, said
Dobrinsky.”Most of our sea sites are remote areas” where staff stay eight days and come out for six, said
Roberts, however in order to retain local employees, the company does have situations where employees can
“go in and out on a daily basis.” A new salmon aquaculture operation near Hope Island in partnership and
cooperation with the Tlatlasikwala First Nation is expected to create 21 new direct jobs.Marine Harvest
operates within the traditional territories of 20 First Nations and has formal agreements with 11 and has
relationships with six First Nation-owned businesses.In addition to monthly wages of about $3 million, last year,
Marine Harvest Canada put $10 million per month into the supply chain of communities, spending $15 million
on goods, services and contractors with the RDMW, said Roberts.The company gave out sponsorship dollars
to 112 recipients last year with 34 specific to the North Island.Marine Harvest is building seven new
recirculating aquaculture systems at its Big Tree Creek and Dalrymple facilities at a cost of $40 million. The
new land-based tank systems for raising parr and smolts (juvenile salmon prior to seawater entry) represent a
significant investment in hatchery infrastructure, and will enable the company to increase production while also
improving environmental performance. Recirculation uses about one-hundredth of the freshwater as a
traditional flow-through aquaculture facilities system.Monitoring of the ocean water near the company’s
processing plant in Port Hardy has shown that “we little to zero impact on the bay of Port Hardy,” said
Roberts.The company has also invested $600,000 in a first-of-its-kind pallet robot to take care of the 8,000
boxes that are moved at the Port Hardy plant each day.Marine Harvest is four-star certified to the Global
Aquaculture Alliance Best Aquaculture Practices, and is the first company in North America to have salmon
certified to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s salmon standard.The Aquaculture Stewardship Council was
co-founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2009. According to the WWF, 85 per cent of the world’s
marine stocks are either fully exploited or overfished, driving accelerated growth in the farmed seafood
industry.Marine Harvest currently has three sites certified by the Council and is committed “to have all sites
certified by 2020, Roberts said.To satisfy the requirements of salmon certification, the company is also working
on wild fish monitoring which involves sampling wild salmonids in the area to determine baseline sea lice
abundance, as well as reducing its chemical use (antibiotics, anti-foulants and pesticides).”We continue to be
on the downward trend with 2.5 grams of antibiotics used in 2015 per metric tonne of fish harvested,” Roberts
said, adding the company strives to make “that a zero.”A new product for Marine Harvest is ‘Rebel Fish’ – a line
of fresh packaged salmon, including a spice rub, that cooks in the microwave in 90 seconds. It is currently only
sold in the United States.”I would like to get some up here and try it,” Roberts said. Mayor Hank Bood said he
likes some of Marine Harvest’s targets, and that they focus on recruiting employees locally.”I’m always glad to
hear there is that bent locally and I’ve seen the actual results of that,” Bood said, adding that he is happy “to
have an industry in Port Hardy that is world class and as a member of corporate community.”
