Ban Open Net Fish Farms

The B.C. government will keep a moratorium on new salmon farm tenures in place while it gets feedback from the public and First Nations on recommendations made by the Minister of Agriculture’s Advisory Council on Finfish Aquaculture.

The advisory council was set up in 2016 to advise the provincial government on salmon farming, the goal being to determine if the industry is socially and ecologically sustainable and to address the potential threat they pose to wild salmon stocks.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham briefly addressed the report in a Thursday April 5 press conference. She had little to say about the recommendations made by the advisory council, and said her government will be seeking feedback from the public on the report.

First Nations and their allies are in full support of the following recommendation:

“Acknowledge and incorporate First Nations’ rights, title and stewardship responsibilities in all aspects of fish farm governance, including tenuring, licensing, management and monitoring in a manner consistent with the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).”

Please circulate this to your networks and send in your support for this recommendation in particular as the NDP must keep its commitments to UNDRIP, and to make meaningful progress on Reconciliation with Indigenous people. The Musgamagw, Namgis and Mamalilikulla people have a right to properly steward their resources, water and lands and have never given their free, prior and informed consent to have open net pen fish farms in their territory. They have been making every effort to gain the collaboration of the NDP government not to renew fish farm tenures in their territorial waters, and your support would greatly assist the NDP government to make this decision. This would not interfere with other areas where Marine Harvest and Cermaq have agreements with other First Nations.

You can send your message to: lana.popham.mla@leg.bc.ca, by simply copying and pasting the following:

We fully support the Minister of Agriculture’s Advisory Council on Finfish Aquaculture recommendations, in particular the following recommendation:

We join thousands of British Columbians from all backgrounds who support your governments commitments to UNDRIP and to reconciliation with Indigenous people.

Your time and attention to this would be greatly appreciated given the fish farm tenures are up for renewal this coming June 2018.

On another matter, closed pen, land based fish farms now exist. While we need to make every effort possible to help support the recovery of wild fish stocks, we do currently rely on fish farms to supply the growing demand for fish. Check out this video describing a land based fish farm: