Last Saturday (Jan. 5) Target Marine Hatcheries hosted an open house so residents in the immediate area could visit the site, ask questions and find out why Target Marine is applying for a text amendment to the M3 zoning allowing them a small processing operation.
The locally owned and operated land-based aquaculture company close to Tuwanek is raising white sturgeon primarily for its caviar (roe) and also for the meat and other products.
General manager Justin Henry was on hand throughout the open house answering questions from those who came to see the operation and hear about the company's vision for the future. Two community members who live in the area, Cynthia Lyman and Rupert Clark, asked Henry numerous questions about the fish themselves and about the physical location of the hatchery and the proposed processing facility.
According to Henry, raising white sturgeon for caviar is not a get-rich-quick type of an industry. "To raise a sturgeon to an age where roe harvesting is possible, the fish needs to be at least 10 years old and they need monitoring 24 hours a day," said Henry. "In the wild, it can take a sturgeon up to 20 years before they are mature enough."
Both Lyman and Clark questioned the type of feed the fish will get, what will be done to the rest of the fish after the roe is harvested, if they will be killed humanely and how big a processing operation Target is contemplating. Henry said the notion to try raising white sturgeon was partially a response to the collapse of the Caspian beluga sturgeon from loss of habitat due to dams, pollution, poaching and over fishing. Worldwide, he said, there are just a handful of sturgeon farms.
"The sturgeon's environment is closely monitored, because unhappy and unhealthy fish die," Henry said. "Fish have a different sensitivity than other animals to their environment if they get sick, they die. We try to keep their environment as close to optimal as possible."
He said Target uses a recirculation system that removes solid waste, carbon dioxide and ammonia from the water in the tanks and adds oxygen. The system they are using conserves water because 98 per cent is recycled, conserves energy and gives the fish the best living environment, he added.
How the fish will be killed will also be carefully thought out, according to Henry, and best practices will be used so the whole thing is low stress and as painless as possible.
He said the sturgeons' food is carefully selected.
"They aren't and won't be given any growth hormones, steroids, pesticides or antibiotics as a normal part of their feeding routine," he said, adding if a fish does get sick, it might receive antibiotics for treatment. Henry said practically every part of the fish would be used in some form or other. The roe, of course, will go for caviar, the flesh will be marketed for food, the heads, Henry said, will be exported to the Asian market, mostly to the local Asian market for fish soup and so forth. As well, part of the offal is rendered down and used, and what can't be used will be composted and used as fertilizer. One of the products made from the swim bladder, Henry said, is called isinglass and is used to clarify wine.
Henry said the current operation has been used as a fish hatchery for a long time. The only component they are adding is a small processing aspect. For that, he said, there needs to be a text amendment in the District of Sechelt bylaw.
Henry said most of the processing is very delicate and has to be done by hand. Peak production, which won't be for another seven to 10 years, is projected at around 70 to 80 fish processed a week. At the Egmont processing plant, 6,000 to 10,000 fish a day are processed.
Henry said they have sent out 350 letters to the residents in the area and around 120 people came to the open house. Instead of having a widely publicized open house that would possibly attract many people not directly affected, he felt it would be better for the visitors to be from the immediate area so staff could take as much time as possible to answer questions.
Henry said he hasn't ruled out a public forum.
For more information, see www.targetmarine.com, www.caviaremptor.org or www.wscs.infor.
