BC salmon farms ban 'will cost Canadian taxpayers $9 billion'
And the social cost is even higher, warn First Nations who host fish producers
A new economic impact report by consultancy RIAS Inc. concludes that the Canadian government's proposed ban on open net-pen salmon farming in British Columbia (BC) by 2029 will have severe consequences for the Canadian economy, Indigenous communities, and food security.
The report, commissioned by the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), concluded that the ban announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in June and the current proposed draft plan to transition BC salmon farming from net pens would result in at least CAD 9 billion (£5.07bn / US $6.4bn) in unnecessary costs to Canadian taxpayers to compensate for the sector’s closure, and to subsidise unproven closed containment technology companies.
Highlights include annual losses of:
- CAD 1.17 billion in economic activity
- CAD 435 million in GDP
- CAD 133.6 million per year to First Nations
- 4,560 well-paid full-time jobs across Canada
- Elimination of a further 50,000 tonnes of farm-raised Canadian salmon
'A reckless decision'
“The proposed ban is a reckless decision by the Trudeau government that ignores both science and economic reality,” said Brian Kingzett, executive director of the BCSFA. “BC salmon farming companies, suppliers and First Nations within whose territories we operate have communicated to the federal government that transition cannot be a ban on marine net-pen salmon farms in less than five years and maintain a viable farmed salmon sector.”
The report was announced at a press conference in Ottawa today by the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (the Coalition) alongside David Kiemele, managing director of Cermaq Canada, representing the salmon farming sector in BC.
You cannot cut a cheque for the damage that will occur to impacted Indigenous communities if our salmon farming partners are forced to leave BC. This includes increased suicides, overdoses, poverty, and the loss of our rights.
Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship spokesman Dallas Smith
“What wasn’t included in the CAD 9 billion bill to Canadian taxpayers announced today is the social cost to First Nations if Ottawa continues to ignore the rights, title, and self-determination of coastal Nations hosting salmon farming in their traditional territories,” said Dallas Smith, spokesperson for the Coalition. “You cannot cut a cheque for the damage that will occur to impacted Indigenous communities if our salmon farming partners are forced to leave BC. This includes increased suicides, overdoses, poverty, and the loss of our rights. Canada can avoid these unnecessary social and economic costs if they let Rightsholder First Nations lead the transition of salmon farming in their territories.”
The BCSFA and the Coalition said BC salmon farmers have been committed to continuous innovation and claimed that mandating the sector to transition to unproven technologies in a short time frame ignores the willingness of salmon farmers to administer alternative innovations that can achieve the same outcome. They said innovative solutions need to be tailored to unique coastal characteristics and aligned with the goals of the rightsholder First Nations who host salmon farms in their territories.
False narrative
“Unfortunately, these decisions made by the Trudeau government seem to have been co-opted by well-funded anti-salmon farming activists who have spent years pushing the false narrative that salmon farms significantly threaten wild Pacific salmon when peer-reviewed science says it does not,” said Kingzett.
The BCSFA and the Coalition pointed out that federal and independent scientists have repeatedly concluded that salmon farms pose no more than minimal risk and that long-term data continues to indicate that salmon farms are not a driver of sea lice levels on wild Pacific salmon. They said the removal of salmon farms in BC will not impact the population levels of wild Pacific salmon, and that as residents of coastal communities, salmon farmers understand their responsibility to support the well-being of wild Pacific salmon.
The BCSFA and Coalition are urging Trudeau to consider a more realistic, no-cost-to-taxpayer alternative to transition that would achieve the same outcome as a ban without imposing “devasting impacts on the sector, on First Nations’ rights, and on coastal communities in BC”.
“Given the trade and economic crisis that this country continues to face, there’s an opportunity for the government to pivot to a positive direction on the future of salmon farming in BC,” said Smith. “We are part of the solution.”
