Land-farmed salmon making a splash

Bruce Swift dips a net into a watery vat and pulls up a crayfish, its claws pinching like a miniature lobster.

The freshwater crustaceans grow well here and are destined to be the key ingredient in a bowl of crayfish bisque at a high-end Vancouver eatery.

But they aren't the focus of the Agassiz fish farmer's operation.

Nor is the neighbouring hydroponic vat brimming with watercress or nearby plots growing wasabi and garlic.

They're all happy byproducts of Swift's main enterprise – farming coho salmon on land.

He and his wife MaryLou, both biologists, hand-feed the more than 2,000 juvenile coho swimming in large freshwater tanks in their barns.

It all happens far from salt water on their five-acre property, which looks like any other modest Fraser Valley hobby farm.

Rather than discharge the ammonia-laden wastewater from the salmon tanks as effluent, it becomes nutrients for the other crops and for algae that in turn feeds the crayfish.

"You've got to use those nutrients," Swift says, adding he'd otherwise be like a cattle farmer who makes no use of his manure.

The ability to pair salmon with companion crops is one of the attractions of this nouveau aquaculture.

"You don't need a lot of room and you can be as innovative as you want," he said.

If that's not green enough, the Swifts are working towards a closed-loop system that recycles all water, eliminating the need to draw from a local aquifer.

 Read the full story in the South Delta Leader