Admiral has been a key industry partner with Fundy National Park’s Inner Bay of Fundy (IBoF) Atlantic Salmon Recovery Program since 2009. The objective of this project is to determine the survivability, in a marine environment, of wild run smolt leaving the Upper Salmon River. The wild run smolt consist of different year classes of fish, which may have had some hatchery rearing prior to releasing back into the river.
The opportunity for this partnership was sought because there is a huge knowledge gap in the marine setting. The data generated from this project will be extremely valuable in assessing the value of the recovery program and how to better design future influences and reduce undesired impacts.
In 2011 this project won the Parks Canada CEO Award of Excellence (See the full story on our Newsfeed.)
Admiral Fish Farms continues to evaluate an innovative growth eco-system called the iCage™, as an alternative to traditional salmon cages. It is anticipated that this will contribute to the overall goal of reducing its ecological footprint, thereby increasing its sustainability “quotient” while improving competitiveness in the marketplace.
In 2009 Admiral Fish Farms participated in the development and evaluation of two full-scale iCage™ units at its farm site near Hardwood Island, New Brunswick. The iCage™ system also has attributes related to its ability to submerge and rotate, the most notable being that it allows for the elimination of naturally occurring anti-foulants, thus reducing net management activities and expenditures.
Our hatchery filters and recycles more than 95% of the required water onsite drawing from a well system rather than a local surface water source for our replacement needs. In many hatchery operations water is taken from surface sources and filtered at much lower levels, and then reintroduced back into the natural environment.
By investing in a comprehensive filtration system we are able to substantially reduce water usage and waste. In addition and perhaps most importantly, there is little or no negative impact on the environment.
The Eco-Bath project is a collaborative effort between industry members, provincial and federal governments. It serves as a closed containment system for the treatment of naturally occurring pests without introducing any of the remedial solution back into the marine environment.
The intent of the Eco-Bath system is to minimize fish stress, improve operational efficiencies and become recognized as an industry best practice.
