Eliminating B.C.’s open-net fish farms would cost billions, report says

Opposing sides in British Columbia’s fractious battle over coastal open net-pen salmon farming are in Ottawa casting for support to either phase out the industry or throw it a life line.

Representatives of B.C. Indigenous nations who support the federal government’s plan to close the industry in five years met with Liberal government officials, while supporters who include other First Nations released a report Thursday citing massive economic fallout and job losses if the marine farms are closed.

The report commissioned by the BC Salmon Farmers Association said the proposed federal ban on open net-pen salmon farms in B.C. coastal waters will cost taxpayers billions and seriously impact Canada’s economy, food security and Indigenous communities.

The ban would result in $9 billion of “unnecessary costs” to taxpayers to close the sector and subsidize companies with “unproven closed containment technology,” said the report by Ottawa-based economics consultants RIAS Inc.

“I’ve just sat through three days of meetings around board room tables with civil servants and deputy ministers and that has been the clearest message that has been put forward,” Brian Kingzett, BC Salmon Farmers executive director, said in an interview from Ottawa.

“That has been put forward by the heads of companies that said the last thing we want to do is close up shop and close up communities,” he said.

But an Indigenous group supporting efforts to rebuild wild salmon stocks in B.C. is urging the federal government to stand by plans to transition away from open-net farms.

Critics say the farms are linked to the transfer of disease to wild salmon, while supporters say studies indicate the farms’ risks are minimal and cite economic costs if operations are phased out.

Bob Chamberlin, First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance chair, who said he was also in Ottawa this week meeting federal government officials, said he speaks for more than 120 First Nations.

“We are working with the government to further assist it to reach its stated goals,” Chamberlin said in an interview from Toronto.

He said First Nations across B.C. have lost billions of dollars worth of wild salmon they counted on for their food security.

“Where’s the dollar figure for the loss of our food security,” said Chamberlin. “You get into the billions very quickly. You get into the billions of dollars to replace what we used to just go to the river or ocean to collect. That’s the food security importance to First Nations.”

He said he does not agree with the salmon farmers’ economic analysis that communities will shut down if salmon farms are closed or forced to operate on land.

“To me this is consistent to what they have communicated in the past: the sky is falling,” said Chamberlin. “When I hear the salmon farmers speak of food security, they are talking about the sushi bars down the West Coast of the United States.”

The salmon farmers’ report said there would be a $1.17-billion drop in annual economic activity — including $133.6 million among First Nations — as well as the elimination of more than 4,500 jobs and the reduction of 50,000 tonnes of farm-raised salmon per year.

In June, the federal government announced it would delay the closure of open net farms until 2029 to facilitate a transition to closed containment systems.

“We have gone from what we thought was a science-based negotiation about further reducing potential risk to wild salmon to a completely political, short-term solution that is irresponsible, unachievable, and frankly, it’s reckless,” said Kingzett.

B.C. salmon farming companies, suppliers and First Nations operating fish farms have told the federal government the ban on net-pen salmon farms will be a death knell for the industry on the West Coast, he said.

The report was released at a news conference in Ottawa Thursday by the B.C.-based Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship and salmon farming industry representative, David Kiemele, managing director of Cermaq Canada.

They are now urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “consider a more realistic, no-cost-to-taxpayers alternative to transition that would achieve the same outcome as a ban without imposing devastating impacts on the sector, on First Nations’ rights, and on coastal communities in B.C.”

Kingzett said mandating the sector to transition to unproven technologies in a short time frame ignores the willingness of B.C. salmon farmers to administer alternative innovations.

Chamberlin said the First Nations have proposed to Ottawa transitioning the salmon farms to ocean-based seaweed-growing operations, which are environmentally conscious and consumer friendly.

But Kingzett said seaweed farms could never replace the economic value of salmon farms.

“Seaweed is wonderful and so are oysters and so is shellfish, but there is no way we are ever going to have a billion-dollar seaweed industry in B.C.,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2024.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press