First Nations in war of words over British Columbia net pen ban

First Nations salmon farmers in British Columbia have called on Canada’s federal government to support their sector in the face of a looming ban on open net pen farming.

The Coalition for First Nations Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) issued a statement yesterday saying they alone have the right to decide how their traditional territories are managed.

The government plans to ban marine salmon farming from mid-2029, a move introduced by previous Liberal premier Justin Trudeau and yet to be overturned by Mark Carney.

Time immemorial

“These farms are here only because our Nations, and no one else, have granted that permission. Other groups, including the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance (FNWSA) and First Nation Leadership Council (FNLC), do not speak for us or our territories, which we have been stewarding since time immemorial,” said the FNFFS.

“Repeated calls to ‘stay the course’ on a net-pen ban are not grounded in the realities of our communities.

“Enforcing this ban would destroy a highly regulated sector that delivers $1.17 billion in annual economic impact, eliminate thousands of jobs, and strip away own-source revenue that fund housing, health, and social programs that our communities desperately need.”

Food insecurity

The coalition said Canada could not afford “economically, socially, or morally” to shut down the lucrative salmon farming sector in BC “in the face of growing food insecurity, global trade instability, and a worsening housing crisis”.

Prime Minister Carney is also coming under pressure to uphold the net pen ban from First Nations groups with vested interests in wild salmon fisheries who are opposed to salmon farming.

Bob Chamberlin, chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, said the federal government should create a First Nation-led plan to protect wild fish, similar to the joint land use plan for governing the Great Bear Rainforest, the Times Colonist reported.

Rehabilitation

"We call on Prime Minister Carney to come and meet with us in British Columbia, where we can discuss the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the wild salmon of British Columbia as a nation building project," he said at a news conference on Monday.

Chamberlin said he was nervous the federal government might not follow through on its promise to ban open-net salmon farms by 2029, after initially rolling back plans for the ban to be in place by 2025.

There are currently 59 salmon farms along the coastline of British Columbia, all operating in partnership with around a dozen First Nations on whose territories they are located, according to the BC Salmon Farmers' Association.