Reporting incidental catch at BC marine finfish aquaculture sites

This graph shows the annual number of incidental catch reported by BC aquaculture facilities. Incidental catch refers to wild finfish that have been caught during harvest, through the movement of fish between facilities or from net removal. Incidental catch includes:

• Species of rockfish includes fish belonging to family Sebastidae (e.g. black rockfish, copper rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, yellowtail rockfish, etc.).
• Species of cod includes fish belonging to family Gadidae (e.g. Pacific cod, tomcod, walleye polluck, etc.).
• Species of perch includes fish belonging to family Embiotocidae (e.g striped seaperch, shiner perch, surfperch, pile perch, kelp perch, etc.).
• Species of salmon include all Pacific salmon: pink, sockeye, chum, chinook and coho.
• Other category includes fish belonging to many different groups but all were reported in low quantity (e.g. Pacific hake, sablefish, lingcod, sculpin species, etc.).

Through the Marine Finfish Conditions of Licence (COL), DFO requires farms to maintain records of incidental catch during the production cycle and submit reports after harvest is complete. For sites with fish continuously onsite, reports must be submitted on January 15th of each year and include all records from the previous year. We update the graph on an annual basis, once all active facilities from that year have been harvested and all incidental catch have been reported.

The COL also requires farms to have pre-established mitigation measures in place to sort wild fish from farmed fish. Any living incidental catch must be immediately released in a manner which causes the least harm. Dead incidental catch must be disposed of properly. In addition, reasonable efforts must be taken onsite to ensure there is no transfer of wild fish between facilities or to processing plants.

During harvest, DFO Fishery Officers or Fishery Guardians may perform inspections to observe and confirm that mitigation measures for incidental catch are properly implemented and appropriate records are maintained. Additionally, DFO regularly monitors production cycles to ensure that industry is in compliance with the required reporting. Should high numbers of incidental catch be reported, DFO will follow up with the facility to determine the circumstances surrounding the event and discuss the addition of supplementary mitigation measures as needed.

Detailed reports on incidental catch are published online.