It is beyond disappointing to learn that open-net pen salmon farms will continue to pollute BC waters for another 5 years… There is a glimmer of hope, however: as a movement we were able to hold the federal government to their promise—sorta. So many other government promises get dropped from the political agenda completely. It is a testament to the power of Salmon People that there is still serious momentum in the right direction to shut this industry down forever. Thank you to everyone who took action to get this far—let’s ramp the pressure up to put an end to this sh*t-show once and for all!

Here is what we know so far:

• Feds promise to ban BC open-net pen fish farms in 5 years—again!

• But promises are not enough—it’s time to demand regulatory change.

• Companies will be required to fully terminate open-net pens within five years.

• The industry is already down by 40%, and the phase-out will steadily reduce the number of operations.

• This is the end of business as usual for BC’s salmon farming industry.

• But our wild salmon are on the brink of extinction—strong interim regulations are crucial.

The devil will be in the details. The 5-year licences will be issued July 1st. The draft Transition Plan will not be ready until end of July. That is when we will learn about the promised stricter regulations to protect wild salmon for the last 5 years of open-net pollution. We’ll also see draft milestones for the phase down of open net-pen aquaculture over the five-year licence period.

We know that the new Fisheries Minister pitched a much worse plan than we got, and that BC Members of Parliament Andrew Wilkinson, Joyce Murray and Terry Beech put it all on the line for wild salmon. The sad truth is, legislative change takes time. Powerful foreign corporations are able to threaten our government with lawsuits if they are not treated ‘fairly’. In this political reality, this was actually a serious win for wild salmon, but we have to now force government to actually enact this ban in regulations.

We’ll be in touch soon with actions you can take to help push this to across the finish line!

With gratitude,
Bonny Glambeck
and the Clayoquot Action Team