The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) has claimed that political postering by the Canadian government has introduced uncertainty in the aquaculture industry nationwide.
In a move to protect wild salmon in British Columbia, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently announced that open net-pen salmon aquaculture will be banned in the province by June 30, 2029.
“The government is firmly committed to taking concrete steps to protect wild Pacific salmon,” said Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
“Today, I’m announcing the essence of a responsible, realistic and achievable transition that ensures the protection of wild species, food security and the vital economic development of British Columbia’s First Nations, coastal communities and others, as we keep working towards a final transition plan by 2025.”
Timothy Kennedy, President and CEO of CAIA, said the concept of moving away from net-pen aquaculture to closed containment systems within five years is “incredibly far-fetched,” and would serve as a massive blow to the future of B.C.’s salmon production. Currently, aquaculture accounts for around 95 per cent of Canadian salmon production.
“We need all the technology possible to produce sustainably raised salmon and that very much includes marine-based net-pens with new technologies and investment and it certainly includes some experimentation and piloting and production in closed containment, both land and water, but for the foreseeable future, the majority of farm-raised salmon production will be in net-pens,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy said that a significant amount of investment from Canada’s largest aquaculture companies has gone into establishing hatcheries and post-smolt facilities that allow for farmed salmon to spend less and less time in coastal net-pens. Since the Canadian government announced the 2029 ban, he said that much of this investment and research has “frozen.” This pause in investment has extended beyond B.C., he said, and has affected the Atlantic provinces as well.
“What we’re seeing is an emboldened activist sector that is saying, ‘Look, if they’re doing that in British Columbia, why don’t we do that here on the East Coast of Canada?’ Even internationally, there was an editorial in Scotland and other countries saying, ‘Hey, why don’t we do this here?’” said Kennedy.
“So, this is just really bad policymaking. It’s bad politics. Let’s be clear, this is totally politically driven… What we have here is so black and white and extreme, it’s totally a response in British Columbia to the pressures of the activists who have very
extreme positions.”
With a federal election on the horizon for Canada in October 2025, polling thus far has indicated the Conservative Party of Canada has a strong chance of winning a majority government. Given that Kennedy is of the opinion that the Liberal government’s net-pen ban was a “politically driven” move, he said that he has heard “encouraging” signals from the Conservative Party regarding Canadian aquaculture but has yet to hear any strong confirmation of their stance.
“This is a big mess that has been created by this Liberal government. The 2019 election platform is when they committed to transition, originally, to land-based closed containment, but they removed that. It was a transition away from open net-pens. No other government in the world has done that,” said Kennedy. “This is a sector in British Columbia that has 100 per cent agreement of local First Nations, in whose territories the farms operate. This is unprecedented, when we have so much cooperation between local First Nations and the production of this sector. I am encouraged by what I hear from the Conservatives and their support for economic reconciliation with First Nations, economic opportunity in small communities, supporting coastal communities — all those things point to a more reasonable approach, but they have not confirmed that.”
According to a poll conducted by Narrative Research Associates, 81 per cent of Atlantic Canadians support Canadian aquaculture and agree that salmon farming is a sustainable, reliable protein source. Kennedy said this sentiment is echoed by most Canadians coast to coast.
“Salmon is the most popular seafood choice of Canadians, and this is almost all farm-raised salmon that we buy in grocery stores across Canada. There has been a real decline in the availability of Canadian produced farm-raised salmon, but consumers want that,” said Kennedy.
“There’s less, so there’s more foreign salmon. We know that the price of salmon has been very high; the decisions and the uncertainty that the government has made has actually increased the price for Canadian consumers.”
On top of a downturn in Canadian production and higher prices, this large influx of salmon from foreign countries, according to Kennedy, substantially increased the carbon footprint of the food source.
“Those three things seem to directly contradict what this government says that they’re trying to achieve in this country. They say they’re trying to lower food costs, make food more available to Canadians and also reduce carbon emissions,” said Kennedy. “This goes directly against those stated commitments.”
