Existing salmon aquaculture licenses will be renewed for five years to ensure a successful transition, with stricter conditions on managing sea lice, reporting requirements, and monitoring of marine mammal interactions.
Canada will prohibit open-net salmon farms off the coast of British Columbia by mid-2029 to help protect the declining wild Pacific salmon populations, the federal government announced on Wednesday.
British Columbia hosts numerous open-net salmon farms, which campaigners argue spread lice and disease to wild fish.
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthillier stated that existing salmon aquaculture licenses will be renewed for five years to ensure a successful transition, with stricter conditions on managing sea lice, reporting requirements, and monitoring of marine mammal interactions.
The deadline had initially been set for 2025. The extended deadline of June 30, 2029 pushes back the plan by Canada’s ruling Liberal Party, first introduced in 2019, for all netpen salmon farms in BC to transition to closed-containment systems.
Lebouthillier has been consulting with many groups about the transition plan involving 79 salmon farms after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2019 election that his government would phase out ocean-pen farming.
Starting July 1, only closed-containment systems on land or at sea will be considered for new salmon aquaculture licenses.
To address the higher costs of closed-containment systems, the government plans to issue nine-year licenses to successful applicants to provide greater certainty.
The federal government will release a draft salmon aquaculture transition plan by the end of July, recognizing the reliance of some First Nations and coastal communities on open-net salmon farms for their livelihoods.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson emphasized the importance of engaging with First Nations.
“We recognize the importance of meaningful and thoughtful engagement with First Nations partners and communities as we move forward, in order to ensure that economic impacts are mitigated,” federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement.
The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association has said about 4,700 jobs and more than $1 billion in annual economic activity will be lost if the licences can’t be renewed.
