“An Irresponsible, Unrealistic, Unreasonable and Unachievable Objective for BC Salmon Farming”
The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) President & CEO, Timothy Kennedy, today released the following statement in response to the Government of Canada’s announcement on the extension of BC salmon aquaculture licenses:
“Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthillier committed repeatedly to deliver a responsible plan that was ‘realistic, reasonable and achievable.’
Today, the Prime Minister and the Minister’s Cabinet colleagues have thrown the Minister’s commitments under the Liberal political bus and announced an objective by 2029 for BC salmon farming that is the opposite: irresponsible, unrealistic, unreasonable and unachievable.
Instead of embracing a balanced pathway towards economic opportunity, increasing healthy and affordable home-grown food, recognizing an exceptional level of Indigenous collaboration and economic reconciliation and incrementally greater environmental protection, it has embraced a position that reflects unaccountable and extreme activist voices.
The objective is irresponsible because it threatens 5,000 highly paid and skilled jobs in coastal British Columbia (the youngest agri-food workforce in Canada and 500 of these jobs held by Indigenous people) during a time of economic stagnation. These jobs were considered “essential” to Canada only a few years ago. It also threatens the very investment and operations infrastructure built up over 45 years of production that will provide the foundation on which to successfully build and attract new aquaculture technologies.
It is also irresponsible because it threatens the approximately 400 million salmon meals produced by the BC sector (in addition to the previously vanished 400 million meals since 2016) and would add the equivalent of 150,000 cars to Canadian roads through increased carbon emissions due to air freight for foreign-sourced salmon.
The objective is unrealistic because transferring the sector to closed containment by 2029 is logistically impossible.
The objective is unreasonable because there is no scientific basis to this decision. The science at most calls for incremental protections for wild salmon in certain areas. The industry is committed to achieving incremental protections through new technologies.
The objective is unachievable because it threatens to destroy economic value, an enhanced innovation pathway, jobs and high-quality Canadian food production.
“We thank all our employees, BC First Nations partners and the entire Canadian aquaculture, farming and food production sectors in Canada for their support during the very difficult last five years since the original 2019 Liberal platform commitment to transition the BC salmon farming sector. Thousands of hours have been spent by employees and partners on developing reasonable, realistic and achievable plans to support the federal government’s objectives. None of these are reflected in the announcement before us today.
We will continue to work with our partners and for the communities in which we work for a realistic, reasonable and achievable pathway forward as originally promised by Minister Lebouthillier,” concluded Kennedy.
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Background:
Canadians and the world want more farm-raised salmon. It is the most popular seafood choice and growing in popularity. Today’s decision will make salmon more expensive for Canadians, and this salmon will come increasingly from other countries who embrace economic opportunity and food security rather than being grown sustainably here in Canada.
Salmon farmers across Canada are committed to constant improvement and further reduction of interactions with wild salmon, however this must be done in a way that incentivizes further investment in new technologies, protects employees and ensures food security.
Over 95 per cent of Canada’s salmon production is from salmon farms. Almost 100 per cent of this farm-raised production is from ocean pens. In BC, 100 per cent of the production is under agreement with First Nations in whose territories the farms operate. Much of this BC production is in remote areas hundreds of kilometres away from major urban centres, with only boat access and often in high-energy ocean sites that prohibit certain technologies. These farms are vital for these communities.
Today, global aquaculture produces more seafood than wild-capture resources. This high-tech food evolution is good for Canadians and the world: more healthy, sustainably-raised protein, more affordable food, jobs in remote coastal communities, and ideally removing pressure from vulnerable wild species. Canada has an unparalleled opportunity to be a global leader.
Unfortunately, Canada has been going backwards. Production has flatlined for twenty years and then declined since 2020 due to government decisions in BC. Salmon farming production reached a peak of 148,000 metric tonnes in 2016, but in 2023 only 90,000 tonnes was produced, the equivalent removal of 390 million salmon meals and adding over 81,000 cars of carbon emissions onto Canadian roads.
A recent study undertaken by Dr Sylvain Charlebois (Dalhousie) and colleagues estimated that by 2026 the removal of BC salmon farms could double the cost of retail salmon in Canada: Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Assessing Consumer Implications of Reduced Salmon Supply and Environmental Impact in North America (mdpi.com)
Contact:
Sheri Beaulieu
Communications and Marketing Manager, CAIA
Sheri.beaulieu@aquaculture.ca