Salmon farm on Canada west coast.

Salmon farming needs a precautionary approach on west coast, says Fisheries Minister

CANADA
Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 01:50 (GMT + 9)

The federal Minister of Fisheries of Canada is in favor of a change in aquaculture policy for the whole west coast, toward the model developed by the British Columbia government that allowed to solve a conflict over fish farming in the Broughton Archipelago.

In statements to the Globe and Mail newspaper, minister Jonathan Wilkinson explained that, as scientists are inmobile about the potential risks of aquaculture, BC’s salmon farming industry should be shifted out of sensitive wild salmon migration pathways.

Wilkinson pointed out that the Fisheries and Oceans scientists don´t know for sure whether open-net farms of Atlantic salmon pose health risks to wild Pacific salmon. With some wild stocks in decline, particularly the chinook salmon, Mr. Wilkinson said he will make a mistake on the side of caution.

“Disease transfer occurs between wild and farmed fish, and I am satisfied that salmon farms along the sockeye migration route have  the potential to introduce exotic diseases and to exacerbate endemic diseases that could have a negative impact on Fraser Sockeye.” - Justice Bruce Cohen (Photo: alexandramorton.ca)

Thus, the federal government will be in compliance with a Federal Court decision that annulled a DFO policy, which allowed fish farms to transfer salmon to open-net fish farms without testing for piscine orthoreovirus, an infectious virus found in both farmed and wild salmon in Brisith Columbia.

Wilkinson explained his approach is based on accepting the possibility that risk does exist, because there is no clear consensus on the science.

“It is absolutely crucial to recognize and acknowledge the importance of wild salmon stocks to First Nations and all British Columbians. Before the proliferation of salmon farms along the B.C. coast, we could depend and rely on the return of wild salmon. This has dramatically changed since the arrival of the fish farm industry. We must collectively do whatever is necessary to protect our wild salmon stocks from extinction.”- Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs  (Photo: alexandramorton.ca)

“We’re not convincing people anymore, there are just these two camps,” he said. “So we need a different approach, one that more fulsomely implements the precautionary principle.”

“We need to move to area-based management, which means we are actually thinking about siting of these facilities in areas where you don’t run into issues around migration pathways, areas where communities are actually interested in the economic development that comes through [fish farming] rather than in areas where those communities are very much opposed,” he explained.

Map of open-net pen salmon farms and wild salmon migration routes in B.C (Photo: alexandramorton.ca)

That’s the model that solved a 30-year-long battle over wild Pacific salmon last December. Indigenous opponents of open-net fish farms negotiated a pact with the BC government, which will shut down at least 10 farms over the span of four years in the Broughton Archipelago off the north coast of Vancouver Island.

Lana Popham, Fisheries Minister of British Columbia, expressed her satisfaction with the new direction announced by the federal government.

“There are a lot of things affecting salmon stocks and rather than getting stuck on a science-against-science debate, and not moving forward until it’s solved, we have started to take action. Expanding on the Broughton model is “absolutely do-able,” said Popham.

Wilkinson said the aquaculture industry plays an important economic role in Canada, but acknowledged his department needs to restore confidence in aquaculture environmental safety.

Related article:

-BC Govt, First Nations and aquaculture firms agree to restrict salmon farming

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