Fisheries Department says it will shut 15 salmon farms off B.C.'s coast to protect wild fish

Fisheries Department says it will shut 15 salmon farms off B.C.'s coast to protect wild fish

By Dirk Meissner

Source: cbc

2/17/2023

Credit: Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has announced the federal government will not renew licences for 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms around British Columbia's Discovery Islands.

Murray says in a news release the Discovery Islands area is a key migration route for wild salmon where narrow passages bring migrating juvenile salmon into close contact with the farms.

She says recent science indicates uncertainty over the risks posed by the farms to wild salmon, and the government is committed to developing a responsible plan to transition away from open-net farming in coastal B.C. waters.

Open-net fish farms off B.C.'s coast have been a major flashpoint, with environmental groups and some Indigenous nations saying the farms are linked to the transfer of disease to wild salmon, while the industry and some local politicians say thousands of jobs are threatened if operations are phased out.