{"id":28666,"date":"2020-12-18T15:28:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=28666"},"modified":"2020-12-18T15:28:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:28:28","slug":"closing-down-the-discovery-island-salmon-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/closing-down-the-discovery-island-salmon-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing down the Discovery Island Salmon farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

The licenses for 19\u00a0salmon farms in the Discovery lslands<\/a>\u00a0expired today.\u00a0\u00a0Bernadette Jordan<\/a>, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO<\/a>) is\u00a0reissuing licenses for 18 months<\/a>, during which time \u201cno new fish of any size may be introduced into Discovery Islands.\u201d \u201cFish at the sites can complete their growth-cycle and be harvested,\u201d but \u201call farms be free of fish by June 30th, 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Protesting<\/a>

Protesting in front of Cermaq Canada in Campbell River on Sept 26, 2020\u00a0\u2013 Rod Burns photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Wow!<\/h2>\n

\u201cI was quite pleased. It is about time we had this decision. My initial thought was \u2018Wow!\u2019 I think there are a few things to be conscious about, but overall I think this is \u2026 wow! I\u2019ve been working on this for over 15 years, it is kind of surreal,\u201d said\u00a0Stan Proboszcz<\/a>, Science Advisor with the\u00a0Watershed Watch Salmon Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Stan<\/a>

Stan Proboszcz, Science Advisor with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society \u2013 courtesy Stan Proboszcz .<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

First Nations Input<\/h2>\n

In the\u00a0press release\u00a0<\/a>in which they announced this decision, DFO states \u201cConsultations with the seven First Nations in the Discovery Islands area provided important guidance to the Minister and heavily informed the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0recent interview with Cortes Currents<\/a>,\u00a0elected Hegus (Chief) John Hackett, of the Tla\u2019amin First Nation stated that the Tla-amin, Klahoose and Homalco all told the DFO, \u201cWe do not want the fish farm licenses renewed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with the\u00a0K\u2019omox<\/a>, they were among the 101 First Nations that\u00a0signed a joint letter calling for a transition to land based fish farms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the\u00a0We Wai Kai<\/a>\u00a0 (Cape Mudge)and\u00a0Wei Wai Kum<\/a>\u00a0(Campbell River) issued a\u00a0joint press release<\/a>\u00a0calling for the closure of the Shaw Point Fish farm:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe escape of Atlantic salmon, the delay in notifying the Nations about the escape, and the ongoing concerns about the impacts of sea lice on juvenile migrating salmon has brought this issue to a head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"18<\/a>

Approximate locations of the 18 fish farms \u2013 by Roy L Hales<\/p><\/div>\n

The Salmon Farms respond<\/h2>\n

Cermaq Canada<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mowi Inc<\/a>\u00a0directed Cortes Currents to the\u00a0BC Salmon Farmers Association<\/a>, which emailed:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision has significant implications and puts salmon farming in B.C. and across Canada at risk. This comes at a bad time, during a pandemic when local food supply and good local jobs have never been more important. We have just received this decision, and will be taking some time to consider it and speak with the numerous companies and communities involved in salmon farming in the province before commenting further.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Another<\/a>

Another sea farm picture \u2013 courtesy Stan Proboszcz<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Why 18 months before closing down?<\/h2>\n

Stan Proboszcz expressed some concerns about the decision to renew fish farm licenses for another 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of the fish farms in the Discovery Islands should be able to harvest out naturally, through their growing cycle, in about six months. So that\u2019s my one question, is why wait for 18? There are legitimate reasons for that, potentially. When you are decommissioning a salmon farm, as we\u2019ve seen happening in the\u00a0Broughton Archipelago<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 is the farms still need to be licensed \u2026 There is a lot of infrastructure there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is concerned about the fact these farms will still be operational during next Spring\u2019s salmon migration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing is\u00a0if we have an election<\/a>, which some people are thinking we may have next year, I wouldn\u2019t want to see a new Federal Government roll back this decision because the licenses will still be in play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The

The Broughton Archipelago by Natalie Lucier via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

What does closing down the Discovery Islands mean for other fish farms?<\/h2>\n

\u201cThat is a good question. Just north of the Discovery Islands, in the Broughton Archipelago, the First Nations have worked with the province primarily, and the industry, in a transition plan to get fish farms out of that area. Now we see a second huge area [about to be decommissioned], the Discovery Islands, which is about a third of the industry. So the big region left is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. There are also a few fish farms on the north end of Vancouver Island and a few in the Central Coast. So I\u2019m not sure what it means, but I think it is really good news for wild salmon,\u201c said Proboszcz.<\/p>\n

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\"Sockeye<\/a>

Sockeye salmon struggling upstream \u2013\u00a0courtesy Stan Proboszcz<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sea Lice<\/h2>\n

I had two very different questions for Proboscz.<\/p>\n

Firstly, in a previous interview independent biologist\u00a0Alexandra Morton said<\/a>, \u201cIn the\u00a0Broughton Archipelago<\/a>, where the [First] Nations are telling the industry what to do, they all kept their lice under control last spring. The industry posts their sea lice numbers on their websites. About fifteen years ago the province said, \u2018Look, you guys can have three lice per fish and after that you have to deal with them.\u2019 So in the Broughton, they kept it under. Everywhere else, they went over, including the Discovery Islands where 50 per cent of the farms went over.\u201d<\/p>\n

This begs the question,\u201dIs it possible that fish farms could bring the sea lice situation under control?\u201d<\/p>\n

He responded, \u201cNothing has been published on this yet \u2026 but the theory is lice weren\u2019t a problem in the Broughton because farms are being transitioned out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

(I.e.- There isn\u2019t as high a density of fish farms.)<\/p>\n

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\"Sockeye<\/a>

Sockeye salmon on stream \u2013\u00a0courtesy Stan Proboszcz<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The move to land based fish farms<\/h2>\n

On a number of occasions, BC salmon farming companies have said it is too expensive to move on land, but the move to land based fish farm is already underway in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an initiative that is happening right now, particularly in the United States. There are a number of farms that are being proposed in places like Maine. There is also a farm being established in Florida which, when it is complete, would have a production level about level with the whole British Columbian open net industry. So there are huge farms that are popping up on land. There is also some discussion about a land based farm proposed near\u00a0Campbell River<\/a>,\u201d said Proboszcz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales The licenses for 19\u00a0salmon farms in the Discovery lslands\u00a0expired today.\u00a0\u00a0Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is\u00a0reissuing licenses for 18 months, during which time \u201cno new fish of any size may be introduced into Discovery Islands.\u201d \u201cFish at the sites can complete their growth-cycle and be harvested,\u201d but \u201call…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":28704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[222],"tags":[4384],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28666"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=28666"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=28666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}