Fish farms opposed by First Nations will be phased out

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Indigenous opponents of open-net fish farms have won an agreement with the B.C. government and the aquaculture industry to start shutting down several of the facilities in the most contentious region of the province, ending a 30-year-long battle over the protection of wild Pacific salmon.

The agreement, which will shut down at least 10 farms over the span of four years in the Broughton Archipelago off the north coast of Vancouver Island, was a major test of the province’s commitment to implement “consent-based” consultations with Indigenous communities.

The Broughton Archipelago is home to roughly one-third of the fish-farming activities in British Columbia, and the pact means that more than half of the current production from that region will be shut down by 2023. Unless consent of the local Indigenous communities is granted, the remaining seven farms will be closed in 2023, giving the industry a four-year window to overcome longstanding opposition by allowing the local First Nations to take part in monitoring their operations.

"What we are witnessing today is critical for Canada’s development,” said Chief Robert Chamberlin of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation, citing it as the first real example of joint decision-making between his people and the Crown.

Mr. Chamberlin noted that his people have been united in demanding “justice for wild salmon," arguing that disease and pollution from the fish farms are to blame for declining wild salmon stock. But the final agreement also respects the roughly 500 jobs that aquaculture provides in the region, and he thanked the industry representatives – who have been the target of his community’s hostility for decades – for helping pave the way for what was described as an “orderly transition” rather than the immediate eviction that his people had long demanded.

“We had to strike a balance between the needs of our people and the needs of industry," he said. "I believe we have done that.”

Diane Morrison, managing director for Marine Harvest’s B.C. operations, said her company shares the concerns of her industry’s critics about the potential impact on wild salmon, and promised to work on enhancing stocks.

David Kiemele, managing director for Cermaq, the other owner of fish farms in the region, said his company is prepared to abide by the principles of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), which call for free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities to resource development in their traditional territories. He called the agreement “a significant and historic moment."

Premier John Horgan said the agreement will create a safe migratory route for young Pacific salmon, but acknowledged that the fish farms may simply be displaced to other parts of the B.C. coast. It was a settlement based on his government’s implementation of UNDRIP, not on the science of whether those fish farms pose a threat to wild salmon.

“I’m not here to quibble about the science,” Mr. Horgan told reporters at a news conference on Friday. Instead, he stressed the importance of achieving reconciliation through UNDRIP. “I believe we have set, in this discussion, a path forward not just for the Nations in the Broughton, but for Indigenous communities right across British Columbia.”

The Premier was joined by the chiefs of the three First Nations that were part of the agreement, as well as representatives for the two aquaculture firms that operate in the Broughton Archipelago, and Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

The dispute has led to court battles as opponents of the fish farms staged occupations and served their own eviction notices.

Mr. Wilkinson said the aquaculture industry plays an important economic role in Canada, but acknowledged his department needs to restore confidence in aquaculture environmental safety. On Thursday, Canada’s chief science adviser Mona Nemer issued a damning report on the need for stronger aquaculture science.