On October 12, the severe cyclone Hudhud ravished the city of Visakhapatnam, India. It was one of the two strongest tropical cyclones of 2014 in the North Indian Ocean, responsible for $11 billion damage to the city’s infrastructure and over 100 deaths.

This struck home, literally, for two Marine Harvest employees with family living in the region. Even though Pavan Padavala and Jay Pudota now live across the world, they wanted to help raise money for the relief agency working to rebuild a city that’s home to two million people.

So the duo got to work. On November 20, Pavan and Jay cooked up a delicious Indian lunch for dozens of Marine Harvest staff. Donations came flooding in, raising $1,360 for the Chief Minister (CM) Relief Fund.

Pavan and Jay had first met in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where they attended school. A few years later they met again at the Marine Institute at Memorial University, Newfoundland, where they completed their aquaculture studies. After graduation,

the two were hired by Marine Harvest Canada as aquaculture technicians and began work in May 2013.

Jay says he and Pavan owe their keen interest in aquaculture to their home state.

“Andhra Pradesh is the hub for aquaculture,

fisheries, and processing,” Jay said, “and it’s home to one of the most important and busy harbours in the state.”

Jay and Pavan feel they are very fortunate to be in a position to give back to a community that helped inspire their careers.

In this issueMarine Harvest duo teams up to help rebuild hometown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Unique challenges bring about creative solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Welcome to the Marine Harvest Canada family: . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Canadian and Irish roots combined with Tasmanian experience make a top-notch Brood Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The boys are back in town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Early Christmas for Camp Bob kids . . . . . . . . 4

Dear Marine Harvest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Rule of 20s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mussel Inlet, British Columbia Photo . . . . . . 5

Salmon consumption makes gains . . . . . . . . 6

Don’t forget! Santa’s coming to visit! . . . . . . 6

Please email comments, articles and ideas to Ian Roberts,

Communications Manager at ian.roberts@marineharvest.com

Comments about this Newsletter?

Marine Harvest duo teams up to help rebuild hometown

Did you Know?There are over 25,000

identified species of fish on earth.

Trivia time! What species of fish produces

the most eggs? Bonus! How many?Answer on Page 4

Wharfside December 2014

Visakhapatnam in the wake of cyclone Hudhud .

Photo: CV Subrahmanyam

Pavan Padavala (left) and Jay Pudota cooked up delicious Indian cuisine for a great cause

While British Columbian’s were basking in the relentless sun this past summer, Marine Harvest Canada’s (MHC) fish technicians were working hard to keep their salmon comfortable amid warmer than usual water temperatures. The long hot summer of 2014 brought a host of challenges for salmon, including algae blooms, low dissolved oxygen, and high salinity.

Algae thrive in sunlight and water temperatures above ten degrees Celsius, and while most algae are food for fish, some algae can be deadly. Most algae prefer to live close to sunlight at the water’s surface. To mitigate against the effects of harmful algae, salmon farmers use compressors to inject air below the nets to upwell cooler, deep water and displace surface algae – helping to create

an environment much more comfortable for the fish.

This summer many farms successfully avoided harmful algae by upwelling water. Unfortunately, as reported by MHC on September 29, one farm was unable to counteract an unusually high concentration of harmful algae, resulting in the farm losing about forty percent of its biomass.

Warm water also holds less oxygen – and oxygen is vital for fish survival. An oxygen level of eight parts per million is ideal for fish, but life becomes uncomfortable at levels below five. All MHC farms are equipped with oxygen sensors that warn farmers to take quick action when oxygen levels are low, either by reducing feeding (digestion consumes much oxygen), or by

diffusing air to add oxygen and to move water more rapidly over the fish’s gills.

Warm water temperatures and high salinity also increase the abundance of marine microbes and jelly fish that can cause damage to a fish’s delicate gill tissue. Gill damage was confirmed at two MHC farms this summer but did not cause elevated mortality. Winter is soon to arrive, bringing cooler temperatures and increased rainfall (that will lower salinity levels) and allow for any damaged gills to improve. When more exposure to freshwater is required, salmon farmers have developed methods to bathe their fish in freshwater for a few hours.

While humans may crave the warm and sunny weather we had this past summer, it can be challenging for a salmon. Fortunately, when Mother Nature throws us a curve ball; MHC’s resourceful farm technicians have effective ways to create a more comfortable environment for their fish.

2 MarineHarvestCanada.com

Unique challenges bring about creative solutions

Don’t forget! Santa’s coming to visit!• Campbell River (Anchor

Inn) on December 20, 9 am - 11 am

• Port Hardy (Port Hardy Processing Plant) on December 13, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm

Canadian and Irish roots combined with Tasmanian experience make a top-notch Brood ManagerBy Gina Forsyth

Although Yvonne Sheehan, Brood Program Manager, joined Marine Harvest a mere six months ago after four years abroad, she’s settled in well and is thriving in her demanding position.

“This is the first time (in my life) that I’ve ever said I love my job,” said Yvonne, adding that the positive environment Marine Harvest works hard to maintain is the reason, and “it’s the people too”.

“The ultimate goal of our breeding program is to produce faster-growing fish while maintaining the genetic diversity of our stocks,” explained Yvonne. “We do this by using the pedigree that tells us how all our fish are related using genomes (the complete set of genes or genetic material in an organism)”.

Born to an Irish mother and father from Newfoundland, Yvonne was born and raised in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland. She attended the same school until grade 12 graduation in 1989. After completing her BSc in Biology from Memorial University, Yvonne enrolled in the Marine Institute’s Master Program in Aquaculture. She completed only her first year before she

was hired locally by the former BC Packers. Yvonne later moved to Grieg Seafood.

Yvonne’s husband Joe was also part of the aquaculture industry, managing a farm site for BC Packers. The pair left the industry in 2006 after being given the chance to try something new. And did they ever- starting their own successful trucking business.

The family expanded its horizons when former Marine Harvest employee Linda Sams persuaded Yvonne to take a position as General Manager with Salmon Enterprises of Tasmania (SALTAS). “I gained tons of experience there, including leading union negotiations and other business aspects of the company”. This was in addition to having the ultimate responsibility for the industry’s egg and smolt production.

Yvonne and her husband, who have been together 23 years and married for 14 years of those, have two daughters, aged eight and ten.

Dereck Frank

Richard Freeman

Julie Arseneau

Bruce Mossey

Willis James

Glen Morris

Alex Brooks

Jordan Robinson

Derek Prince

Joe Shephard

Karl Korhonene

Michael Nelson

Anthony Knighton

Malcolm Richards

3MarineHarvestCanada.com

Welcome to the Marine Harvest Canada family: Yvonne Sheehan, Brood Program Manager

4 MarineHarvestCanada.com

Answer: The ocean sunfish (Mola mola), which can produce up to 300 million eggs

By Les Klassen, Executive Director, Camp Bob

Christmas came early this summer to Camp Bob, the recipient of a joint venture between several local businesses.

Camp Bob, located on Roberts Lake and home to hundreds of children and youth each summer who participate in outdoor adventure camp programs, received an enormous gift from local industry and businesses this summer in the form of a new dock. The dock, central to daily watersports activities, has a value well exceeding $60,000 and was a joint effort between Marine Harvest Canada, DKS

Industries and Coastline Towing who all pulled together to fabricate, launch and install the dock system for Camp Bob.

The project, initiated by Marine Harvest in fall 2013 was completed in time for the 2014 summer camp season. Read the full article published in the Campbell River Mirror here.

(l-r) Phil McKirgan, Craig Robertson, Andy Haslam, Calvin Derksen, and Sheldon Holloway sported their Marine Harvest shirts during their weeks’ vacation in hot and sunny Tulum, Mayan Riviera. The all-expense-paid vacation was rewarded to the Hardwicke farm site team for their winning biological feed conversion rate of 1.14 (2012 year class).

“We all returned unscathed and ready to get back to producing some all-star fish,” said Site Manager, Andy Haslam.

“Thank you for the opportunity to be chosen for the Bob Minkler Memorial Bursary. It is an honour. This bursary will assist me immensely with my post-secondary schooling and help me

pursue my future career in fisheries and aquaculture. I hope to help take care of our environment which this bursary will help me pursue. Thanks you again, it is greatly appreciated.”

Mariah de Koninck, North Island College student and 2014 Bob Minkler Memorial Bursary recipient.

Dear Marine Harvest,

Early Christmas for Camp Bob kids

The boys are back in town

5MarineHarvestCanada.com

By Joy Stowe, Freshwater Support and Brainsafe Facilitator

Did you know there is a ‘Rule of 20s’ and, by following it, you can contribute to your overall brain health and fitness? Of course, there’s a safety benefit as well.

The Rule is a suggested solution to a problem. The problem is right in front of your eyes: focusing attention for extended periods of time on computer screens, mobile devices, driving, watching TV. In Brainsafe we learned that our brains were developed to recognize and react quickly to dangers in our environment.

Our survival depended upon superior peripheral vision. Consider now how effectively you’ve conditioned your brain to filter out distractions and, as a result, how you might not even “see” something important or unexpected in your surroundings.  

The Rule of 20s is: every 20 minutes, walk 20 feet for at least 20 seconds, and look 20 feet away. For those of you who just rolled your eyes at this solution, congratulations!  You’ve hit on another idea from the article I read—eye movements such as

focusing on things near to you then far away, rolling your eyes clockwise and counterclockwise, exaggerated blinking all reduce eye strain. Open your eyes, Be Aware, Be Safe.

Inspiration for this article was taken from a blog written by Debbie Hampton. On her blog , The Best Brain Possible, she shares how she rebuilt her brain and life to find joy and thrive.

Rule of 20s

Mussel Inlet, British Columbia (photo by Greg Gibson)

bit.ly/MHCanadatwitter.com/MHCanada facebook.com/MHCanada

6 MarineHarvestCanada.com

The National Fisheries Institute’s Top Ten list for overall seafood consumption (2013) in the United States was published last month, with salmon now moving up from the previous year into second spot. Shrimp held on to top spot, while tuna and tilapia (respectively) trailed salmon consumption.

While the increase in seafood consumption in the U.S. is good news (for suppliers and for health), NFI President John Connelly reminds us that “The U.S. is a huge market for seafood, but per capita consumption is much lower here than in other developed countries.

“This report is a good reminder that public health professionals and the government must seize momentum and re-energize efforts to promote important nutritional benefits associated with seafood.”

Salmon consumption makes gains

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Don’t forget! Santa’s coming to visit!• Campbell River (Anchor

Inn) on December 20, 9 am - 11 am

• Port Hardy (Port Hardy Processing Plant) on December 13, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm