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Authors: Stephen Le
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âSome people call me and my wife workaholics. We need to do things, to have a challenge before us, to have a reason to get up in the morning, to be active. Weâre not like some of those brain-dead people who go golfing. We donât believe in that. Itâs a waste of time for society when you could contribute something good and nice to mankind and the next generation. We call it our hobby because we love doing it.â If Walter had attempted to start Bearbrook Farm a few decades ago, he would have had to rely on word of mouth or advertisements in magazines and newspapers. Now the Internet is playing a new and important role, as orders for his game meatsâin addition to the animals raised on the farm, Bearbrook also offers exotic meats like snake, crocodile, kangaroo, and camelâcome in from many parts of the province. Technology is changing the face of commerce, and this seventy-five-year-old retiree is at the forefront of a new-yet-old way to raise food.
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We are commonly advised these days to eat more fish, for the sake of omega-3 fatty acids that could lower our risks of coronary heart disease, allergic diseases, and depression, among other things. Americans eat more than twice as much salmon today as they did in 1990, but this increase has been accompanied by considerable controversy. In 1997, the United States went from being a net exporter to a net importer of salmon, despite opposition from American salmon farmers that resulted in tariffs on Norwegian and Chilean salmon. Rivers along the Atlantic coast once teemed with wild Atlantic salmon, but these fish have all but disappeared as an economic force, with major losses caused by damming of rivers, changes in water temperature, and other forms of habitat destruction. Although Alaska is the major producer of wild salmon in North America, nearly all of the increased numbers of salmon finding their way onto American dinner plates come from farmed salmon imported from Canada, Chile, and Norway. 16
To learn more about salmon aquaculture, I book a seat on a train from Halifax to Moncton, a small city on Canadaâs east coast. The train pulls into downtown Moncton two hours later; low, drab houses cling like barnacles to a grid of widely spaced roads. My host is there to meet me, beaming. Dounia is a marine scientist who specializes in lobsters. She did some shopping at the supermarket next to the train station while waiting for me.
âIs salmon okay for tonight?â she asks.
In all likelihood, Douniaâs salmon purchase originated from Cooke Aquaculture. Salmon aquaculture was first developed in Norway starting around 1970, then brought over to North America in 1978 after a Canadian scientist observed its potential. In 1984, New Brunswick had five fish farms. High prices for salmon drove the expansion of the industry, so that by 1996 the number of fish farms had swollen to seventy-seven. However, Chilean-farmed salmon began to enter the U.S. market, and disease and parasite epidemics ravaged farmed salmon stocks. In an attempt by the New Brunswick provincial authorities to clean up the waters of the bays that held the salmon pens, operators were required to own at least two sites, to allow one site to lie fallow while the other site held the salmon. Given the additional expenses that this entailed, the salmon aquaculture business was consolidated into the hands of just a few operators. Cooke has become by far the largest player in east-coast Atlantic salmon, evolving from a single New Brunswick farm with five thousand salmon to a multimillion-dollar, multinational enterprise, raising salmon, bream, and sea bass in Canada, the United States, Chile, Spain, and Scotland. 17
Thierry Chopin, a professor from the University of New Brunswick who conducts research in cooperation with Cooke Aquaculture on making aquaculture more environmentally friendly, picks me up on a cheerful maritime blue morning and
âSome people call me and my wife workaholics. We need to do things, to have a challenge before us, to have a reason to get up in the morning, to be active. Weâre not like some of those brain-dead people who go golfing. We donât believe in that. Itâs a waste of time for society when you could contribute something good and nice to mankind and the next generation. We call it our hobby because we love doing it.â If Walter had attempted to start Bearbrook Farm a few decades ago, he would have had to rely on word of mouth or advertisements in magazines and newspapers. Now the Internet is playing a new and important role, as orders for his game meatsâin addition to the animals raised on the farm, Bearbrook also offers exotic meats like snake, crocodile, kangaroo, and camelâcome in from many parts of the province. Technology is changing the face of commerce, and this seventy-five-year-old retiree is at the forefront of a new-yet-old way to raise food.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
We are commonly advised these days to eat more fish, for the sake of omega-3 fatty acids that could lower our risks of coronary heart disease, allergic diseases, and depression, among other things. Americans eat more than twice as much salmon today as they did in 1990, but this increase has been accompanied by considerable controversy. In 1997, the United States went from being a net exporter to a net importer of salmon, despite opposition from American salmon farmers that resulted in tariffs on Norwegian and Chilean salmon. Rivers along the Atlantic coast once teemed with wild Atlantic salmon, but these fish have all but disappeared as an economic force, with major losses caused by damming of rivers, changes in water temperature, and other forms of habitat destruction. Although Alaska is the major producer of wild salmon in North America, nearly all of the increased numbers of salmon finding their way onto American dinner plates come from farmed salmon imported from Canada, Chile, and Norway. 16
To learn more about salmon aquaculture, I book a seat on a train from Halifax to Moncton, a small city on Canadaâs east coast. The train pulls into downtown Moncton two hours later; low, drab houses cling like barnacles to a grid of widely spaced roads. My host is there to meet me, beaming. Dounia is a marine scientist who specializes in lobsters. She did some shopping at the supermarket next to the train station while waiting for me.
âIs salmon okay for tonight?â she asks.
In all likelihood, Douniaâs salmon purchase originated from Cooke Aquaculture. Salmon aquaculture was first developed in Norway starting around 1970, then brought over to North America in 1978 after a Canadian scientist observed its potential. In 1984, New Brunswick had five fish farms. High prices for salmon drove the expansion of the industry, so that by 1996 the number of fish farms had swollen to seventy-seven. However, Chilean-farmed salmon began to enter the U.S. market, and disease and parasite epidemics ravaged farmed salmon stocks. In an attempt by the New Brunswick provincial authorities to clean up the waters of the bays that held the salmon pens, operators were required to own at least two sites, to allow one site to lie fallow while the other site held the salmon. Given the additional expenses that this entailed, the salmon aquaculture business was consolidated into the hands of just a few operators. Cooke has become by far the largest player in east-coast Atlantic salmon, evolving from a single New Brunswick farm with five thousand salmon to a multimillion-dollar, multinational enterprise, raising salmon, bream, and sea bass in Canada, the United States, Chile, Spain, and Scotland. 17
Thierry Chopin, a professor from the University of New Brunswick who conducts research in cooperation with Cooke Aquaculture on making aquaculture more environmentally friendly, picks me up on a cheerful maritime blue morning and
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