Presentation: State-of-Knowledge Initiative for the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture of the British Columbia Legislature

Delivered November, 2006.

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Introduction and Scope

[A full pdf copy for printing may be downloaded from the WAVES database.]

Known as the State-of-Knowledge (SOK) Initiative, this scientific review provides the current status of scientific knowledge and recommends future research studies. The review covers marine finfish and shellfish, and freshwater finfish aquaculture.

The review focuses primarily on scientific knowledge relevant to Canada. Scientific knowledge on potential environmental effects is addressed under three main themes:

• impacts of wastes (including nutrient and organic matter);
• chemicals used by the industry (including pesticides, drugs and antifoulants); and
• interactions between farmed fish and wild species (including disease transfer, and genetic and ecological interactions).

This review presents potential environmental effects of aquaculture as reported in the scientific literature.

The environmental effects of aquaculture activities are site-specific and are influenced by environmental conditions and production characteristics at each farm site.

While the review summarizes available scientific knowledge, it does not constitute a site-specific assessment of aquaculture operations. In addition, the review does not cover the effects of the environment on aquaculture production.

The papers target a scientific and well-informed audience, particularly individuals and organizations involved in the management of research on the environmental interactions of aquaculture. They are aimed at supporting decision-making on research priorities, information sharing, and interacting with various organizations on research priorities and possible research partnerships.

Each paper was written by, or under the direction of DFO scientists, and was peer-reviewed by three experts.

The peer reviewers and DFO scientists help ensure that the papers are up-to-date at the time of publication. Recommendations on cost-effective, targeted research areas will be developed after publication of the full series of SOK review papers.

The SOK series will consist of 12 review papers. Nine have been published and executive summaries are provided in Appendix III. The final three papers are completed and are soon to be published.