Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
The federal government is giving British Columbia’s aquaculture industry five more years to move away from open net farms.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in 2019 to end the controversial open water industry, and the federal government has set a 2025 target.
Fisheries Minister Diane LeBothelier and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson unveiled the new timeline at twin announcements in Vancouver and Ottawa on Wednesday, saying a license extension to 2029 would allow for a “responsible, realistic and achievable transition.”
“The industry knew that changes would be made and I think all of us together will build a sustainable fishery for our population for the future,” LeBothelier said.
Wilkinson said the break is still necessary in light of the declining stocks of wild salmon in the Pacific Ocean and the critical role the fish play to First Nations people and BC’s ecology and economy.
While there is “significant scientific uncertainty” about the impact of fish farms on wild salmon stocks, the federal government must act on the “precautionary principle” and address all potential causes of the species’ decline.
“Proponents of open-net salmon aquaculture have argued that the impacts on wild Pacific salmon stocks are not significant,” Wilkinson said.
“On the other hand, many scientists, including those from a wide range of academic institutions and respected institutions such as the Pacific Salmon Foundation, have strongly argued that the potential effects of open net pens on wild Pacific salmon stocks are indeed significant.”
Wilkinson noted that no other jurisdiction in North America currently allows salmon farming in open pens. Washington state, the last to do so, banned it in 2022.
The new five-year extensions will come with stricter license conditions, while after July 1 only marine or land-based closed containment facilities will be considered.
Ottawa will also introduce new nine-year licenses for facilities that commit to converting to closed farms within five years.
The government aims to publish a transition plan by July 31.
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That plan will address how to support workers, First Nations and communities, identify necessary financial supports for clean aquaculture technology, address criteria for a five-year hiatus and deal with managing existing facilities on an open network until the ban takes effect, Wilkinson said. .
Opponents of the fish farming industry, including environmental groups and a large coalition of First Nations, welcomed the plan to phase out the industry.
But Bob Chamberlain, chairman of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance, said it was disappointing to see a five-year delay given the multitude of threats salmon already face.
“There is a critical need for the immediate conservation of wild salmon,” he said.
Chamberlain said the announcement is a “significant step” to address food security and reconciliation with BC First Nations, 90 per cent of which rely on wild salmon.
But he said the quality of the program would depend largely on its finer details, which have yet to be released.
“Like license conditions. Are they going to be renewed after they’ve been harvested? What are the new regulations, and is there going to be independent oversight and oversight by the First Nations?” he said.
“I know that this is something that most of the First Nations that participated in the transition planning process submitted to the government, and it is certainly not something that we are going to give up.”
The BC Salmon Farmers Association said meeting the federal government’s transition schedule will be “very challenging.”
“We would be willing to invest hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in new technology, but it is highly doubtful that a move to fully enclosed braking as discussed today is achievable within a five-year period,” CEO Brian Kingst told Global News.
Licensing and deploying new technology alone could take more than five years, he argued.
Kingst said the industry employs close to 5,000 people, including 500 First Nations workers, and contributes about $1.2 billion to the BC economy.
“They are literally putting thousands of jobs at risk,” he said.
Dallas Smith, a spokesman for First Nations for Finfish Stewardship, which supports the aquaculture industry, said the decision does not take into account the effects of climate change, habitat loss and overfishing on wild salmon.
“It’s really important for us to look at all the stressors and impacts on wild salmon,” he said. “To simply say that salmon aquaculture is the reason for the decline in wild salmon is irresponsible.”
Lebouthillier consulted with indigenous leaders, industry stakeholders and coastal communities on the government’s transition plan for 79 salmon farms after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2019 election that his government would phase out ocean pen farms.
Last year, the federal government announced it would not renew licenses for 15 farms off the Discovery Islands, a major migration route for wild salmon.
The ecological effects of marine salmon farming remain hotly contested.
Opponents point to sea lice, viruses and bacteria they say the farms are spreading as a critical threat to young salmon that are already threatened by a variety of forces.
The salmon farming industry claims that there is no scientific evidence of widespread harm to wild fish and that farms provide much-needed seafood without depleting wild salmon stocks.
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(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://globalnews.ca/news/10576199/bc-fish-farm-phase-out-2029/
