Habitat restoration and stewardship and blue economy initiatives are among the many objectives of Premier Eby’s coastal marine strategy that could be advanced with federal funding.
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Premier David Eby has astutely observed that social licence has expired for the farming of salmon in B.C.’s coastal waters.
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About 75 per cent of British Columbians agree that farmed salmon comes at an unacceptable cost to wild Pacific salmon. It’s clear that the premier has heard those voices. Now, he needs to push the federal government to honour its commitment to ban open-net-pen farming of salmon in B.C. by 2029.
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We should have seen a finalized transition plan by now that would provide B.C. with funding to ease the impacts of farm removal on communities where farming provides employment and royalties that support economic development. Transition plan funds would support workers in finding new employment or learning new skills; and also support development of new, blue economy initiatives in keeping with B.C.’s coastal marine strategy.
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Habitat restoration and stewardship and blue economy initiatives are among the many objectives of Eby’s coastal marine strategy that could be advanced with federal funding. Yet, thus far, the province has been content to await the federal lead with remarkable patience, while affected communities are left with uncertainty about the future.
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Meanwhile, where salmon farms have been removed from the wild salmon migration route between Vancouver Island and the mainland, nature is beginning to rebound with restored abundance in many local salmon populations.
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This brings with it the potential to restore the jobs lost from the wild salmon economy, in fishing, tourism and related industries. The wild salmon economy still supports thousands of jobs, sustains communities, and ensures the cultural and food security of First Nations in ways farmed salmon can’t. It has enormous potential to rejuvenate coastal communities.
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The fish-farming industry in B.C. currently benefits from an asymmetrical arrangement, extracting free services from the environment. It uses our coastal waters as a dumping ground for untreated waste, while our degraded environment subsidizes the deployment of land-based fish farming technology elsewhere.
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Japan and Norway, and companies based there, fiercely lobby Canada to overturn the open-net-pen ban and preserve this lucrative arrangement. They demand that B.C. continue to accept the environmental harm, yet they pursue a more responsible future for their operations elsewhere. The Grieg Seafood group, which until recently held about a quarter of B.C. salmon farm tenures, funds at least one of those land-based operations in Japan, called Proximar.
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For so long as we allow them to pollute for free, they will never pursue sustainable systems here.
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B.C. is now the last jurisdiction on the Pacific coast of North America that allows open-net pens for Atlantic salmon. This isn’t a point of pride; it’s an embarrassment.
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The commitment to remove open-net pens from our Pacific coast must be honoured, not diluted, delayed or quietly abandoned through incremental concessions that preserve the status quo. Putting a tarp around an open-net pen doesn’t stop wastewater from being pumped into the ocean and can’t be described as “closed” or “contained,” no matter how much some quarters wish it were so.
