For months, something deeply concerning has been unfolding in Clayoquot Sound, a place famous for its breathtaking wilderness and rich marine life that sustains west coast communities. It’s a wonder Cermaq—one of the world’s biggest fish farming corporations—is even allowed to operate in a UNESCO Biosphere Region.

At Cermaq’s Millar Channel site, an experimental semi-closed fish farm and a normal open net-pen fish farm both operate. Those of us watching this unfold are seriously concerned. Our allies at Clayoquot Action have documented large amounts of an oil-like substance in and around the semi-closed farm, as well as salmon-coloured sludge and white stuff.

Is it fish oil from dead farmed salmon? Is the pollution coming from the farm’s fish feed? While we can’t say with 100% certainty that the semi-closed fish farm is the source, the pollution looks eerily similar to a die-off I witnessed in the Nootka region last year.

Clayoquot Action has been tirelessly going to the site and documenting these disturbing events. Kudos to them. We’ve been digging into government records for answers. An email string from federal documents we accessed suggests some farmed salmon being moved from the semi-closed fish farm experienced stress during the transfer and died, though not enough to trigger what DFO considers a reportable fish farm kill. 

More recently, the Director of DFO Aquaculture Management in B.C. wrote: 

“The oily substances which you have noted were present near the Millar Channel facility in recent weeks were attributable to milling issues with a specific batch of fish feed.” 

These events raise even more questions: 

• How many fish have died at this experimental semi-closed site? 
• Exactly what kind of fish feed issues are they experiencing?  
• What impact is this oil and sludge having on the surrounding marine life? 

This isn’t just about one fish farm. It’s about the future of wild salmon and the health of our coastal waters. The federal government is finalizing its plan to remove open net-pens from B.C. waters by 2029, and some companies are pushing for experimental alternatives like this one we’re monitoring in Clayoquot Sound. But if this system is already experiencing failures, how can we consider it a viable replacement? Especially, when the company is so secretive about what exactly is happening?

A Norwegian-owned company is hoping to set-up a similar type of factory fish farm that is enormous, near Port Alice, B.C. Does it make sense to allow these questionable closed and semi-closed fish factories into our coastal waters?

Watershed Watch has been calling for transparency and accountability in the aquaculture industry for years. We need to know what’s happening at this site because the feds may be considering this experimental technology as a solution to open net-pen salmon farms. We and our allies at Clayoquot Action are watching this closely.