Canada - Environmental impact of commercial cod culture: Effects on wild cod populations?

The finfish aquaculture industry in cold-water regions has recognized the need to move beyond farming of salmonids and diversify into alternate species. Both in Norway and Canada, attention has recently been directed especially towards Atlantic cod. Howev er, the rapid commercialisation of Atlantic cod farming causes concerns with respect to environmental integrity. Experiences from commercialisation of salmonids have clearly shown that such concerns should be addressed following a precautionary approach, with the aim to develop a sustainable cod aquaculture industry. Fiskeriforskning, NINA, and AquaNet (Canada) have therefore recently started the Norwegian-Canadian bilateral research project: "Why and how do cod escape?". This represent the first step tow ards revealing the causes for and effects of fish escape in cod culture. The objective for the current proposal is to plan, develop and expand this existing collaboration between the two countries and to develop future larger and more long-term bilateral collaborative activities within the field of sustainable finfish aquaculture. The current project will be organized in the following three sections: 1. The first section will be aimed at analyzing the potential for negative environmental impacts resulti ng from future commercial cod culture in Norway and Canada. 2. The second section of the project will be to develop a future bilateral research plan aimed at providing research and knowledge that will assists industry, management and scientists in develo ping precautionary and mitigating actions. 3. The third section of the project will be to stimulate to mobility and exchange of knowledge between Norwegian and Canadian scientists. Section 1 and 2 are sought funded as an initiation project ("støtte til prosjektinitiering") while section 3 is proposed to stimulation of mobility ("Leiv Erikssons mobilitetsprogram") to the "Bilateralt forskningssamarbeid" under the Norwegian Research Council