The 2019 federal election is almost here, and a big topic of conversation in B.C is the Liberals plan to ban open-net fish farms.
26-year-old Sorin Hamm is a fish farm worker with Mowi Canada West and she is pleading the Liberals to reconsider the decision.
Hamm has worked at facilities in Shelter Bay, Port Hardy, Campbell River, Phillips Arm, Okisollo, and Sonora Point.
She says if those farms were moved to land, her job would never be the same.
“My career as I know it would be over, surely there would be a job on land, but what I love to do would cease to exist.”
“I also can’t see production being as plentiful on land for environmental and cost reasons so those jobs would be few, and the wild stocks would have to make up for the lost product on the international market,” added Hamm.
She added that a lot of people associate fish farms with negative things, but most of the facilities are kept to international standards.
“At Mowi, and I’m sure the other companies take great care in training staff and developing green initiatives. We also strive to have every site Best Aquaculture Practices(BAP) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certified. I myself have worked to keep my sites certified by both and am very proud to be a part of a company that cares!”
Hamm says she wishes Trudeau would see the sites first hand, to really see how they benefit the economy.
“I would like to have Mr. Trudeau observe my live fish checks and see the gentle but thorough examination of the stock…to see the attention to detail up close, the wall of binders logging extensive daily, weekly, monthly, and annual protocols. I think really seeing what we do would open people’s eyes to an industry that the public is so misled about.”
