ADAM OLSEN -- The federal and provincial governments soak up the attention of multi-million-dollar announcements. If they’re unwilling however to make the tough decisions on aquaculture license holders, then it’s a waste of money
I feel I must circle back around and address the recent explosion of sea
lice on the west coast, and the continued persistence of open-net pen fish
farms in British Columbia waters. And, I
must restate my dissatisfaction with the decades of poor resource management in
our province.
In recent months, I have been working on several fronts, primarily
forestry, fish, wildlife, oil and gas development. For an entire year my
colleagues and I drew considerable attention to the urgent crisis with wild
salmon on the British Columbia coast.
Policy decisions in a half dozen Ministries impact the well-being of
wild salmon. Our work has shone a light on the historic mismanagement of
watersheds, over-logging and the impact of poorly designed infrastructure.
Fish farms are another significant threat to wild salmon in coastal
waters.
Background
Open-net pen fish farms have been a major source of frustration for British
Columbians; there is a growing body of evidence to support the need for a
wholesale change to the industry.
With aquaculture tenures in the Broughton Archipelago set to expire last
June, the provincial government was under substantial pressure to not renew
them. In the end, they let the tenures revert to a month-to-month scenario. The
province then undertook "government-to-government" negotiations with
the First Nations in the Broughton. In December of last year, the province announced an agreement with three First Nations
in the area, the ‘Namgis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis and Mamalilikulla.
This was widely regarded as a positive step forward in a decade-long
struggle with open-net pen fish farms. I had substantial concerns that the
celebration was premature. The government did a good job with First Nations in
the Broughton Archipelago but that is it. Dozens of other fish farms remain on
the British Columbia coast.
Helping wild salmon?
This spring, we again see the impacts of the provincial and federal
governments lack of action.
On one hand while they plan to spend more than $140 million on wild
salmon over the next five years, they fail to act definitively on removing fish
farms which remain a significant threat to those same fish. We have seen a
growing body of evidence that open-net pen fish farms are a major
source of disease and parasites.
Just last week, we saw another story about the devastation
of sea lice on the wild salmon in Clayoquot Sound. This is not a new problem,
and yet the response from Minister Jonathan Wilkinson (Fisheries and Oceans
Canada) is to write a letter to aquaculture operators in the area to ask them
to comply with the regulations.
This is clearly not good enough. Both the federal and provincial
governments soak up the attention of multi-million-dollar announcements;
however, if they are unwilling to make the tough decisions on aquaculture
license holders, then it is a waste of money.
Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park |
The province wants to be seen as leading on government-to-government
relationships with First Nations, and they did a fine job with three of the
five First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago. Salmon are a critical species
for First Nations on the coast, and in the interior.
Where were those voices at the table? How were their interests
represented? They weren't. The federal government wants be seen as making
difficult decisions on salmon conservation, but their wild salmon policy is
confusing, inconsistent and desperate.
Transition
I am thankful that our effort has successfully injected some momentum
into wild salmon initiatives in British Columbia. It's proven that persistence
pays off. We will not stop this work.
Just the other week I received a letter from Wild
Salmon Forever, a powerful group of wild salmon advocates,
responsible for the Wild First campaign. The list of their supporters
is an impressive collection of British Columbians from all walks of life. They
are environmental, social and business activists of all socio-economic
backgrounds, political stripes and philosophies. They gather together around a
single message: we need to get open-net pen aquaculture operations out of
coastal British Columbia waters.
It does not end there though. They have done the work to show the
federal and provincial governments that there is an economic case to
aggressively transition the current industry to closed containment.
Attached to their letter to me was the outline for a plan that would
position British Columbia as a global leader, while addressing the substantial
environmental concerns about the current industry.
The six aspects of the plan
include:
1.
A permanent moratorium on open-net pen aquaculture
in the Discovery Channel and a freeze on all new open-net farms
2.
Expansion of testing and treatment of smolts
infected with pathogens, parasites and viruses such as Piscine Reovirus (PRV),
3.
Leveraging the license renewals to seek better
regulatory compliance, induce the adoption of new technologies and move to
closed-containment,
4.
Consent of Indigenous peoples,
5.
Comprehensive program to attract an emerging
land-based aquaculture industry to British Columbia, and
6.
Skills training and workforce readiness
programming.
Moving ahead
Maintaining the status quo is easy. However, British Columbians do not
want to carry the liabilities for industries that are much to willing to
offload their environmental costs onto the public purse.
This is not just saying no. Rather; it is embracing the opportunity in
front of us. Let's say yes to an industry that is environmentally and socially
acceptable, with partners who are willing to act responsibly.
Both the federal and provincial governments have in front of them a plan
that clearly shows the economic, social and environmental benefits of a
land-based closed-containment aquaculture industry in British Columbia. Now we
just need the political will that extends beyond a Ministerial letter-writing
campaign to bold action.
Let's do it!
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