Salmon Aquaculture Research Now Online

The Salmon Aquaculture Database is being hosted by the Aquaculture Association of Canada, which has a mandate to disseminate scientific and technical information on aquaculture in Canada, following its development for the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) with funding from the federal government.

"This is a great resource for anyone who wants a clear idea of the research that has been completed regarding salmon farming in Canada," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.

"It's really impressive to see the thousands of papers catalogued through the document."

CAIA members had identified the need for a database like this, and as a result a joint industry/government project was developed to provide funding through the Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Programme (ACRDP) of DFO.

The database itself was developed by the Coastal Aquaculture Research and Training (CART) Network, led by Dr Stephen Cross of the University of Victoria, with input from stakeholders across Canada.

"The creation of this database is a significant step for knowledge transfer and sharing," said Ruth Salmon, CAIA Executive Director.

"Not only does this forum provide free and open access to salmon aquaculture research, the database further reinforces transparency, consistency and cooperation across the aquaculture community."

The database right now is a review of primary literature, identifying about 3,000 references, spanning the past three decades of research. Each item is recorded by author, date, title, and a short annotation is provided for each entry.

Depending on further funding, future plans for the database include regular updates and transitioning it from an Excel document to a web-based, easily searchable format. There is also discussion around expanding this kind of project to other species.

To access the database, visit: www.aquacultureassociation.ca