Potential economic benefits from sablefish farming in British Columbia

We present in this paper results of an analysis of the potential economic contribution of sablefish farming in British Columbia (BC). This is necessary because a BC sablefish hatchery has recently begun production of juvenile sablefish for grow-out in marine net pens. The production from this single hatchery is anticipated to effectively support sablefish production that will match the entire current BC sablefish capture fishery. Two key questions we address are, how will net benefits (added value) to BC from the sablefish sector be affected if (i) BC and the rest of the world engage in sablefish farming, and (ii) BC bans sablefish farming while the rest of the world does not. We find that at low BC aquaculture production levels, small economic gains are possible. However, gains quickly disappear as production increases towards anticipated levels. A sablefish-farming ban in BC could be beneficial to the province and Canada if BC wild sablefish landings command a price premium of at least 20–25%.