Federal Judge Elizabeth Heneghan ruled earlier this month that former Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan had not given operators the right to procedural justice when she announced plans to phase out the farms and criticized the minister’s lack of clarity over the dispute. the companies. it would cost them millions in losses. In December 2020, Jordan announced that 19 salmon farms in the Discovery Islands, an area off the coast of British Columbia, would be closed by 2022. It also said no fish transfers between hatcheries and open farms would be allowed during the season. phasing out of 18 months. In response to the order, salmon breeders have begun closing down Discovery Islands – but have also fought orders in the courts. To order the closure of the farms, Justin Trinto’s Liberal Party acted on the advice of a government committee on the decline of wild salmon. The Cohen Commission found in 2012 that the Discovery Islands acted as a barrier to salmon migration routes – and that farm closures would reduce the risk for wild salmon. Nine government reports, however, found that farms posed minimal risk to wild salmon. “[Farmers] “They have not been notified of the scope of the decision nor have they been notified that the transfer permits will be banned,” Heneghan wrote in her decision, calling the minister’s response to the concerns “inadequate”. The judge said that for a decision that would cost the companies millions in losses, the Minister of Fisheries owed the companies an explanation for her decision. “A press release does not provide reasons. A news bulletin is a means for an individual. To express an opinion. The consequences of the decision in this case are important and the minister had to give reasons “. Fish farming has become a hotbed of controversy among environmental activists, First Nations leaders and farmers, but the recent decision is a blow to Trinto’s commitment to phasing out industry in the region by 2025. In March, the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance urged the government to continue working to close the farms, blaming “fragmented management decisions at both federal and provincial levels” for the “precarious wildlife extinction situation.” Last month, the Prime Minister of British Columbia warned the Prime Minister that closing without a clear transition plan would “undermine the economies of dozens of communities” in the region. Closing farms, Canada would be one of the first countries in the world to force a shift from open farming to closed water systems. In the United States, both Alaska and Washington have sought to dominate fish farming amid growing concerns that farmed salmon could pose a risk to diseased wild salmon stock. Last month, a new Canadian government report showed that for nearly a decade, its own scientists were concerned that farmed Atlantic salmon was a carrier of the highly contagious Piscine orthodontic virus. Heneghan’s decision also imposes an earlier order allowing fish farms to store salmon again until the farms are closed. The BC Salmon Farmers Association said it was “encouraged” by the ruling. A spokesman for Fisheries Secretary Joyce Murray said he was aware of the court ruling and would take a decision on the next steps soon. “[Minister Murray] “It remains committed to the transition from open-net salmon farming to British Columbia’s coastal waters,” said spokeswoman Claire Teichman.
