Watershed Watch Salmon Society (WWSS) and other conservation groups are preparing to go back to court to challenge an appeal regarding a decision made last year by the federal court regarding fish farms off the Discovery Islands.
Former Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Joyce Murray announced in 2023 that the licences for 15 Atlantic salmon farms off the Discovery Islands would not be renewed. The area is a major migration route for wild salmon. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also pledged that the government would phase out ocean pen farms in his 2019 election campaign.
However, Mowi Canada West, Cermaq Canada, Grieg Seafood, and the We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations filed an appeal in August, six months after Murray's announcement.
Despite the appeal, a ban on fish farms beyond 2029 was announced in June 2024.
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According to a Jan. 17 WWSS Facebook post, the WWSS is heading back to court to defend the decision.
"Mowi, the world's largest salmon farming corporation, is attempting to overturn the 2024 legal victory that upheld the fisheries minister's decision to protect this critical juvenile salmon migration route from parasite-spewing fish farms," reads the post.
Fish farms are a significant threat to wild fish, says Stan Proboszcs, senior science and policy analyst for WWSS.
"There's a large body of science that shows they can amplify parasites, bacteria and viruses and spread them to wild fish that swim near the farms, including salmon. There have also been several scientific papers that conclude that parasites from fish farms can actually have population-level negative impacts on wild salmon," said Proboszcs.
The WWSS is joined by the George Strait Alliance, long-time fish farm critic Alexandra Morton, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Living Oceans Society. Ecojustice will represent the alliance.
"It's important for Watershed Watch to continue to support the Discovery Islands decision to remove factory fish farms because protecting wild salmon and their habitats is a key part of our organizational mandate," said Proboszcs. "The removal of these farms has had an effect of reducing parasitic lice loads on out-migrating wild juvenile salmon."
A report by Richard Routledge and Morton in Canadian Science Publishing on Oct. 24. 2023, found that the average number of sea lice per juvenile salmon declined by 96 per cent between 2020 and 2022, when salmon farms in the Discovery Islands region declined from eight to one. The duo based their information on 1,627 juvenile pink and chum salmon captured and examined at sites throughout the study area.
Another study published in Scientific Reports found that mortality events at Atlantic salmon farms in B.C. have increased dramatically due to parasitic sea lice treatments (such as hydrogen peroxide baths) and climate change.
Proboszcs says that B.C. fish farms continue to have disastrous impacts, mentioning a diesel spill at a Grieg Seafood fish farm in Esperanza Inlet in December, which continues to threaten the area. An area of about 60 square kilometres is closed off for shellfish harvesting.
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"The fish farm problems keep coming. However, the transition of the remaining fish farms out of B.C. has been delayed to 2029 by this federal government," said Proboszcs. "We hope to see the final federal transition plan soon and hope the remaining farms are removed from coastal B.C. as soon as possible."
Mowi did not respond to the Mirror for comment by deadline.
