On May 11, 2014, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a 14 minute program profiling British Columbia’s farm-raised salmon, and I spoke on behalf of the thousands of professionals who share my passion

for fish culture. Since the show aired, I have been asked by many people how I felt the show represented our business. Was it a fair, current, and accurate representation of our business?

I feel the producer of the show, Peter Klein, did a fair job of providing balance to the very polarized perspectives offered about our business and I felt my messages were accurately communicated to the audience. My message was clear: aquaculture is an increasingly important part of providing healthy food for a growing population and can help conserve sea life in our oceans and that we are a group of dedicated, responsible, and professional providers of healthy food.

Unlike most other television programs that have covered our business before, Peter had the luxury of time to research the topic. I was first contacted to participate in August 2013, we filmed in October, and seven months later the show aired. In that time, Peter and his research team were able to fact check the information provided by me as well as the opinions of other people

interviewed for the program. Peter learned that BC salmon farmers are pleased to engage in dialogue about our business and that today’s operations are technologically advanced. I was afforded the time to correct urban legends as well as misinformation pitched to 60 Minutes by critics of our business. To be clear, we don’t mind being critiqued, but expect criticisms to be based on fact, not speculation.

Six months before the episode aired, the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) provided 60 Minutes with a science-rich document to assist their research. You can view this document at http://www.salmonfarmers.org/cbs-60-minutes-backgrounder-salmon-farming-british-columbia.

But even with the facts provided to them, 60 Minutes still managed to get some things terribly wrong. Here are my thoughts on the errors and omissions in the show:

1. The story suggests that dolphins and whales “steal fish” from our net pens. That has never been the case. Dolphins and whales never disturb our fish, and have never shown interest in our farms.

2. A camera was dropped 300 feet to the bottom of the ocean near a salmon farm. What is described as “the brown waste of a farm” is what the bottom of the ocean naturally looks like at a dark depth of 300 feet. The dozen healthy Pacific prawns in the same image were overlooked.

In this issueDebrief: did 60 Minutes get it right? . . . . . . . 1

“Tanks” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Transplanted Maritimer soaks in all BC’s offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Remembering to report incidents or near misses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Students visit Okisollo salmon farm . . . . . . . 4

Cool looking teams! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Slo-Pitch anyone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Support for UBC’s athletics programs . . . . . 5

Thanks Shelby! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Salmon BBQ Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Returning to Hope Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Please email comments, articles and ideas to Ian Roberts,

Communications Manager, at ian.roberts@marineharvest.com

Comments about this Newsletter?

Debrief: did 60 Minutes get it right?

Did you Know?Atlantic salmon naturally has the

highest levels of healthy Omega 3 oils of all salmon because in the wild it

retains fats to repeat spawn.

Trivia time! How many female roommates did Jack Tripper have during

Three’s Company’s eight seasons?Answer on Page 4

Wharfside June 2014

Continued on page 2

By Ian Roberts,

Communications Manager

In May, the first buckets of 5,000 juvenile coho were entered into the three metre fish tank that Marine Harvest Canada donated to the Al Grist Memorial Hatchery. These fish will be released to the Coquitlam River as smolts in early July.  “This tank will provide more flexibility for our operations,” says Norm Fletcher, Hatchery Coordinator. “It is a most welcome addition to our hatchery and the generosity of Marine Harvest Canada is very much appreciated.”

“Tanks”

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3. Alexandra Morton claims that “nobody [is] actually looking at the wild fish carefully” and says that “the virus [ISA] is already present in these waters.” This is incorrect: thousands of fish health screenings on wild, hatchery-raised, and farm-raised salmon have been completed by professionals in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington State. Not a single test confirms the presence of any exotic fish virus or disease, including ISA. These test results were provided to 60 Minutes in the BCSFA background document (pg. 10), but for some reason they chose to omit this information.

While not included in the original TV episode, there are two additional online segments available at 60 Minutes Overtime. One segment provides the viewer very accurate information on the benefits of eating salmon – wild-caught and farm-

raised. That is, Dr. Sanjay Gupta confirms that all salmon are extremely low in unwanted contaminants (PCBs) and very rich in healthy Omega 3 oils. Another segment profiles a company that Marine Harvest Canada has provided assistance to

while it attempts to raise salmon to market-size on land at an affordable cost.

Did you miss it the show? You can view all three segments on the 60 Minutes Overtime website at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-wild-salmon/.

Ian Roberts (right) spoke with Dr . Sanjay Gupta of 60 Minutes

Continued from page 1

Debrief: did 60 Minutes get it right?

By Gina Forsyth

Laura Chomyshyn (pronounced “commission”) is an Aquaculture Technician at Dalrymple Hatchery and a holder of a biology degree with a focus on fish physiology from Carleton University.

She met some of her Marine Harvest colleagues before she had even graduated with her Advanced Diploma in Aquaculture from Newfoundland’s Marine Institute, an off-shoot of Memorial University.

Just over a year ago, Freshwater Production Manager Dean Guest, Area Manager Kelly Osborne and HR Director Dean Dobrinsky travelled east to provide information about employment opportunities with Marine Harvest. Laura liked Marine Harvest and Marine Harvest liked her.

Laura worked with fry at Big Tree Creek Hatchery for five months upon her arrival on the west coast. She also spent some time in Ocean Falls, which “taught me a lot”, she said. She now works hands-on at Dalrymple in the new fry building, doing water quality testing, cleaning and hand feeding the fish, which arrive weighing between .5 and one gram. “I like the constant cycle of new fish that arrive throughout the year,” said Laura.

The youngest of three girls, Laura was born in St. Bruno, Quebec. Her family was a mobile one due to her father’s work at Dow as a chemical engineer. Whenever a new plant was opened, that’s where the Chomyshyn family headed. As a result, Laura has lived in 5 different provinces and graduated from high school in Jackson,

Michigan. There was never any doubt she’d return to Canada to further her education due in large part to the high cost of post-secondary education in the U.S. “We’re a science-based family,” said Laura, adding that “I love the water- working with fish seemed a natural step”.

Laura lives in Campbell River with roommates she met while at school in Newfoundland. Two of them, Luigina Gardin (Ocean Falls) and Renee Hamel (Glacial Creek), also work for Marine Harvest on the fresh water side of the industry.

Moving across seven time zones is something Laura welcomes. “I love BC,” she said. “I’m up for pretty much any outdoor adventure. Everything you want is right here,” Laura commented. She’s been a certified diver for two years and never tires of exploring dive sites around Quadra Island. Her favorite so far is “Row and Be Damned”, a spectacular 80-90 foot dive. She also likes “the big lingcod that lives on the wreck of the Columbia”. “The plan is to check out Browning Pass, Nanaimo and Victoria areas for diving too”. Laura is looking forward to doing this with her boyfriend, who she met at a local dive shop.

Hiking is popular with Laura, as is surfing in Tofino, on Vancouver Island’s West Coast, when she gets the chance. “There’s a bunch of us from out East who now work for Marine Harvest – some are from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and of course Newfoundland – and we’ve made several trips. It’s full out every time,” said Laura.

Transplanted Maritimer soaks in all BC’s offerings

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Laura Chomyshyn, Aquaculture Technician, at Telegraph Cove, BC

4 MarineHarvestCanada.com

Answer: Four (Janet, Chrissy, Terry, Cindy) (Eleanor lived in the apartment before Jack moved in)

By Joy Stowe, Freshwater Support & BrainSafe Master Facilitator

The 243 items brought forward and corrected in the recent Slip, Trip, Fall Safety Blitz demonstrate the increased level of commitment MHC employees have in making their workplaces safe.

That demonstration of safety culture awareness leads to my “True Confession”: I had an unreported incident due to a fall resulting in one small bruise to the knee—I’m quick to add that this has been corrected since by filing appropriate paperwork with the H&S Department.

The root cause in the incident was choosing a pair of visitor site boots that were much too large for me. Added to that were contributing factors of

a momentary lack of focus and lack of awareness as to how close my new “longer” foot was to the pallet jack I was walking by. This was a small incident, but I know that wearing improperly fitting boots is a situation visitors may encounter during site visits. Biosecurity is our concern, there isn’t a “one boot fits all” solution and a fully stocked boot room isn’t feasible so hopefully my experience leads to increased awareness when outfitting visitors with site boots. Another suggestion would be to review your site’s boot stock to ensure you have a range of sizes available. In this case, the corrective action is well within my Sphere of Control, I can ensure I have boots at the sites I regularly visit.

Reporting incidents is a way of doing our 50% for others. We learn from the events and can make changes to continue to provide safer working conditions in the future. If it happened to me, it could happen to someone else.

Remembering to report incidents or near misses

The Slip, Trip, Fall Safety Blitz was a HUGE success and the attention to slip, trip and fall hazards has noticeably decreased the number of incidents and raised awareness to the hazard. Congratulations to the crew at Glacial Creek farm site who corrected the most slip, trip, fall hazards per person, and also corrected the most hazards in total. Each Glacial Creek crew member has won some MHC prizes.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and contributions, as they have had a positive impact on the overall safety of Marine Harvest Canada.

The “Blitz” winner is…

Students from the Merville Mennonite School joined Jamie (far right) for a tour of Okisollo salmon farm recently.

5MarineHarvestCanada.com

Marine Harvest Canada was happy to help provide baseball shirts for several Sayward childrens teams.

Positive Aquaculture Awareness is holding its 18th annual BC Aquaculture Slo-Pitch Tourney on July 5 and 6. If you work for Marine Harvest and want to enter a team, please contact Ian Roberts at ian.roberts@marineharvest.com.

Marine Harvest Canada is pleased to provide continued support to the University of British Columbia’s athletics programs. Pictured above is Bryan Pawlina, who received MHC’s “Birdbacker” sponsorship this season.

Cool looking teams!

Isabella Schrader was really happy to receive her shirt!

Slo-Pitch anyone?

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

6 MarineHarvestCanada.com

Charity Date Location Serving Time

Mt Washington Ski Club 27-Apr-14 Comox - Marina Park 11am - 4pm

St Joseph’s Hospital Foundation 23-May-14 Courtenay - Driftwood Mall 10 am - 2 pm

Campbell River Christian School 24-May-14 CR - 250 Dogwood St 11 am - 2 pm

Campbell River Beacon Club 25-May-14 CR - Robert Ostler Park 11 am - 12:30 pm

Campbell River Head Injury Support Society 28-May-14 CR - Spirit Square 1 pm - 4 pm

North Island Relay for Life 31-May-14 Pt McNeill - NISS Track 6 pm - 6 am

Oceans Day, in support of Quatse Salmon Centre 6-Jun-14 PH - 7250 Market St 11 am - 2 pm

Habitat for Humanity 14-Jun-14 CR - Spirit Square noon - 2 pm

Black Creek Community Association 21-Jun-14 Black Creek - 2001 Black Creek Rd 4 pm - 9 pm

CR Hospital Foundation/Dragon Boats 28-Jun-14 CR - Dick Murphy Park 11 am - 1:30 pm

Willow Point Lions Club (Shoreline Carvers) 28-Jun-14 CR - 2165 Isl Hwy 6 pm - 7:30 pm

BC Professional Firefighters Burn Fund 1-Jul-14 CR - Robert Ostler Park noon - 1:30 pm

Salmon Kings Swim Club 5-Jul-14 CR - Centennial Park 4 pm - 8 pm

Filomi Days 19-Jul-14 PH - downtown 11 am - 4 pm

Dog Fanciers Society 3-Aug-14 CR - Nunns Creek Park 4 pm - 6 pm

Orca Fest 16-Aug-14 Pt McNeill - town centre 11 am - 1:30 pm

Vancouver Island Mountain Sports Society 23-Aug-14 Courtenay - Mt Wash, Nordic Site 4 pm - 6 pm

Volunteer Campbell River 6-Sep-14 CR - Spirit Square 11:30 am - 2 pm

SPCA - Paws for a Cause 7-Sep-14 CR - Nunns Creek Park 11 am - 12:30 pm

Greenways Land Trust 20-Sep-14 CR - Spirit Square 11 am - 1 pm

Join us this summer at our salmon barbeque for charity!

Done!

Done!

Done!

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Marine Harvest’s Russell North was happy to have the help of Shelby Nilsen at our first charity barbeque this season. The Snow to Surf event raised over a thousand dollars for the Mount Washington Ski Club.(Shelby is an avid skier and member of the Club!).

The Tlatlasikwala First Nation, in partnership with Marine Harvest Canada, is applying for two new salmon aquaculture sites in the nation’s Traditional Territory. To learn more about the TFN’s desire to create diverse economic opportunities at their homeland, please visit www.ReturningToHope.com.

Returning to Hope Island