For Immediate Release

September 20, 2024

VANCOUVER, B.C. —The federal government has released its draft plan to ban open net-pen salmon farms in Pacific coastal waters. The draft plan and a letter from Ryan Turnbull, the Liberal MP for Whitby who will lead the consultation and engagement process for the transition, can be found on our website here: Salmon Aquaculture Transition Plan for British Columbia (DRAFT) (watershedwatch.ca)

The plan recognizes the need to solidify the ban on open net-pen salmon farms into law in the Pacific Aquaculture Regulation; however, no details or timeline for these actions are provided. The plan also identifies closed containment salmon farming as a way forward for salmon aquaculture in B.C.; however, concerns remain with in-water closed containment systems that allow for the exchange of water between the farm and marine environment due to pathogen transfer. Consultations on the draft plan will apparently follow shortly.

In response to the draft plan, Stan Proboszcz, Senior Science and Policy Analyst for Watershed Watch Salmon Society said:

“Despite the delay, we are pleased to finally see details of the salmon farm ban plan that we hope will permanently remove the remaining open net-pen salmon farms from B.C. We encourage the government to provide security to coastal communities that depend on wild salmon by enshrining the ban into law as soon as possible. This should be a priority for federal law-makers immediately.”

“Many B.C. wild salmon populations are in decline. Removing open net-pen salmon farms as soon as they finish their current grow-out cycles will reduce the risk of parasite spread to juvenile wild salmon and provide security to Canadians that the salmon farm ban will be fulfilled.”

“Over the ban timeline we will be watching salmon farm companies as they wind down their operations and remove their facilities. The plan mentions “enhanced” monitoring but provides no details on how industry monitoring will be expanded. We expect them to do so in an orderly manner that returns our coastal waters to a pristine state, and they should face stiff penalties otherwise.”

The plan was originally due to be released by the end of July but was delayed for unknown reasons. The government is expected to conduct consultation on the proposed plan released today before releasing a final plan in 2025.

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For interviews or more information please contact:

Stan Proboszcz, Senior Science and Policy Analyst, 604-314-2713, proboszcz@watershedwatch.ca

Background:

A large body of published science indicates open net salmon farms can harm wild Pacific salmon and cause their populations to decline: https://watershedwatch.ca/resource/scientific-weight-of-evidence-against-open-net-pen-salmon-farms/

In June 2024 the federal government announced the B.C. open net-pen salmon farm ban: https://www.canada.ca/en/fisheries-oceans/news/2024/06/responsible-realistic-and-achievable-the-government-of-canada-announces-transition-from-open-net-pen-salmon-aquaculture-in-coastal-british-columbia.html