The backing of a land-based salmon farm in Japan by a global company with ties to ocean fish farms in British Columbia has Indigenous and conservation groups calling on the federal government to accelerate its transition away from open-net farms.
Open-net fish farms off B.C.’s coast are a flashpoint, with environmental groups and some Indigenous nations saying the farms transfer disease to wild salmon, while the industry and some local politicians say thousands of jobs are threatened if operations are phased out. This month, she said consultations for 79 other open-net farms will now continue through the summer, with a transition plan decision coming at an unannounced date.
“That was the last time I went to Norway to speak to them,” he said. “I realized that the fight was at home.” “To farm the entire production cycle on land has not yet been proven viable at a commercial scale,” she said in the statement. “Developing the technology and competence is the first challenge that needs to be solved.”