Thursday, January 6, 2011

Vancouver Island gains 43 jobs in aquaculture

Vancouver Island is gaining 43 new public service jobs as aquaculture management is transferred from the province to the federal government. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans took over aquaculture oversight Dec. 18, following a 2009 B.C. Supreme Court decision that aquaculture is a fishery, meaning the federal government is responsible for regulation.

Most new employees will be at work within the next three weeks and all areas will be staffed by early March, said Andrew Thomson, DFO Pacific Region director for aquaculture management. "We already have a baseline of staff in place to get the licences out," he said.

The breakdown of Vancouver Island jobs is 14 new employees in Nanaimo including fishery officers and aquaculture resource management staff eight in Courtenay with responsibility for fish health monitoring and shellfish and freshwater assessments 15 in Campbell River where there will be fishery officers, licensing and finfish field assessment staff and six in Port Hardy including fishery officers, aquaculture resource management staff and employees responsible for finfish field monitoring.

New DFO office space will be used in Campbell River and Nanaimo and Courtenay will be home to a fish health laboratory and a boat for monitoring and inspections. Another nine jobs are being created in Vancouver with two new communications staff, six aquaculture managers and one conservation officer. Read more...




This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.

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