The First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance is urging the federal government to stick to the plan to remove open-net pen salmon farms.
Last week, the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship and the BC Salmon Farmers Association held a news conference in Campbell River to release a position book on the benefits and safety of aquaculture to First Nations.
The association says the more than 500-page review followed requests from First Nations with salmon farming in their territories asking for more transparency and information about the sector and its impacts, to share with their communities and help in decision-making regarding the sector.
Robert Chamberlin of the Wild Salmon Alliance doubts it will change the opinions held by First Nation that support a transition away from open-net pens.
Chamberlin also says applying the term ‘activist’ to those who want to see the transition happen is disrespectful.
“The basis of the position that the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance promotes at every opportunity is based upon court rulings, it’s based upon the auditor general’s report, it’s based upon the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans, it’s based upon true peer reviewed science globally and within this country.”
He says the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance has identified 120 First Nations that support removing salmon farms from the ocean but says federal officials have attempted to downplay that support.
“What DFO did is they buried within the appendices of their first What We Heard report that a majority of First Nations that are involved in the transition planning support the transition from the ocean, and of course this is how DFO continues its mandate to promote the industry.”
Chamberlin says the prime minister gave the direction to transition the industry away from open-net fish farms, but the federal fisheries department now appears to have devised a transition planning process that will allow the status quo to continue.
“DFO acknowledges the severe crisis that is wild salmon right now in British Columbia and the need for bold action, and yet what we’re seeing is the minister making statements at the standing committee of fisheries and oceans that no fish farm licences are going to be retired in 2025, well that sounds to me like the conclusion, and the process is still ongoing.”
With the proposed federal Aquaculture Act still on the drawing board, Chamberlin says leading up to the 2025 commitment for the transition the industry should not be reissued licences that extend beyond that time frame.
“We must recognise that the fish farms that were operating in the Discovery Islands were on a year-to-year basis, and they operated fine.”
Chamberlin says to allow long term licences at this time will undermine the options for cabinet and the federal minster of fisheries, and not allow for a true understanding of what the government’s fish farm transition plan will look like.
He says the salmon farming industry’s call for a six-to-nine-year time frame is too long and wild salmon cannot sustain that level of impact.
Federal fisheries minister Diane Lebouthillier is expected to announce a decision on salmon farm licences later this spring
