Fishy Business - Canada’s governments failing wild salmon
A 2005 salmon farm protest outside the Western Region DFO Offices in Vancouver. Photo credit: Wilderness Committee files.
In Canada both the provincial and federal governments are responsible for regulating salmon farms. The federal government has responsibility under the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Act and the provincial government has responsibility through the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.
The responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments were formalized through a 1988 “Memorandum of Understanding on Aquaculture Development. Under the agreement BC manages and develops aquaculture, while the federal government retains the legal responsibility to protect wild salmon and their habitat.
Despite the federal government’s primary responsibility to protect wild salmon many of the tasks related to monitoring and standards were delegated to the province. One of the problems with this approach is that DFO is monitoring standards developed by a provincial agency that does not have to uphold the federal Fisheries Act.
The federal government oversees salmon farms through the Department Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Unfortunately, the primary role of DFO to conserve and protect wild salmon was severely undermined in 1995 when the federal cabinet endorsed the national Aquaculture Development Strategy. The Strategy advises that creating enabling conditions for aquaculture development is the responsibility of all DFO sectors and regions, and goes on to observe that to achieve that goal "a reorientation of departmental values" is required.
Online resources
Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform: www.farmedanddangerous.org
Georgia Strait Alliance: www.georgiastrait.org
Save our Skeena Salmon: www.soss.parhosting.com
Sea Food Lover’s Guide: seafood.audubon.org
Sea Lice Study: ProcBGalleyKrkosek.pdf
Watershed Watch: www.watershed-watch.org
The conflict of interest between defending wild salmon and the promotion of salmon farms and aquaculture has steadily undermined the legislative obligations of the federal government to protect wild salmon. In fact, due to inadequate federal enforcement most of the salmon farms in BC are operating without environmental assessment approvals that are required under the Navigable Waters Act.(1)
In a 2000 report on salmon farming in BC the Canadian Auditor General’s Office was critical of DFO’s approach to salmon farming. The report noted there was no federal policy in place to apply existing legislation to salmon farms, that monitoring, standards, siting, and research by DFO were sub par and that key sections of the Fisheries Act could not be enforced. The report ended by noting that DFO “cannot play a leadership role” in ensuring that the Fisheries Act is applied in the development of provincial standards.
Salmon farming in BC started out in the 1970s with a few small operators. A handful of large corporations drove the expansion of the industry in the early 1990s. The last 30 years have seen the industry expand to include 121 tenures with over 80 active farms producing in excess of 70,000 tonnes of fish annually.
Growing public concern in the 1990s led to the government of BC to halt expansion of salmon farms in 1995. This moratorium stayed in place until 2002, when the newly elected provincial government lifted the cap with no public input. This was despite a report from the federal Auditor General, issued in 2000, which stated that "the potential cumulative effects from multiple salmon farm proposals warrant public review before the decision is made to life the moratorium."(2)
The current provincial government continues to be an active proponent of the promotion of salmon farms and provincial laws reflect that. Few regulations adequately regulate salmon farms. Both the BC Waste Management Act and the Aquaculture Waste Control Regulation allow the discharge of fish feed and untreated feces into marine waters. The BC Pesticides Act, developed with land agriculture in mind, is also inadequate, as it has not been modified to take into accounts the specific requirements of marine aquaculture.
Even if laws were adequate there has been reluctance to enforce clear and measurable environmental standards. In 2001 the provincial government refunded fines and forgave hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid penalties against salmon farmers who had illegally expanded their operations in BC waters.
Canadians feel strongly about the need to protect our wild Pacific salmon. It’s time for the federal government and BC provincial government to heed this call and stand up for our wild salmon.
