Photo: The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — The federal government says it has a game plan to transition away from open-net fish farming on B.C.’s coast.
Terry Beech, a Burnaby MP and parliamentary secretary for the minister of fisheries, says the government is committed to moving away from open-net pens to more sustainable technology, but that still needs to be examined.
Phasing out net-pen fish farming in B.C. waters by 2025 was a Liberal campaign promise in the federal election and it formed part of the mandate letter for Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan.
Some studies say the open-net farms spread parasites and viruses to wild salmon, and while the government set the timeline to end the ocean-based farms, Beech did not have a date for when the businesses would move.
Beech says the government will be working with First Nations, the aquaculture industry and environment stakeholders on an interim report expected to be handed to the minister in the spring.
In 2018, the B.C. government recommended a transition plan for 17 fish farms to leave the Broughton Archipelago by 2023, allowing for a farm-free migration corridor for wild salmon off northeastern Vancouver Island.
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