Licences renewed this year will have stricter conditions, government says
VANCOUVER | UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES — The federal government today announced its intention to ban open-net pen salmon farms from Pacific coastal waters by 2029, allowing industry one more production cycle by renewing licences for five years with stricter conditions.
In response to the plan, Kilian Stehfest, marine conservation specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation, said:
“Today we can celebrate the decades of tireless work by Indigenous leaders, scientists, environmental NGOs, elected officials and activists to end the dangers of open-net pen aquaculture to wild salmon. This ban is a significant step forward, building on the removal of farms from the Broughton Archipelago, the Discovery Islands and shíshálh Nation territory.
“It’s great to see the federal government commit to concrete deadlines, even though they do not meet the government’s original commitment to transition from open-net pens by 2025 or the urgency of the moment given the dire state of many wild salmon runs.
“We are glad to see that the five-year extension will be backed by stricter licensing conditions that prioritize wild salmon protection. We look forward to a strong transition plan that enshrines an end to open-net pens in law or regulation and supports workers and communities.”
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For more information or a media interview, please contact:
Brandon Wei, David Suzuki Foundation, 778 772-6138, bwei@davidsuzuki.org
Background:
- The Liberal Party promised in its 2019 platform to transition open-net pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters to closed containment systems by 2025.
- Former fisheries and oceans minister Joyce Murray terminated licences for 15 open-net pens in the Discovery Islands in 2023, following her predecessor’s decision in 2020.
- Licences for the last open-net pen fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago were not renewed after opposition from the ’Na̱mǥis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis and Mamalilikulla First Nations.
- The last fish farms in shíshálh Nation territory were decommissioned last year.
- Independent research has repeatedly shown open-net pens breed and spread deadly pathogens to wild salmon.