Ban on BC salmon farms could cost Canadians CAD 9 billion

A new economic impact report revealed that the government of Canada's proposal to ban existing marine salmon farms in British Columbia could cost at least CAD 9 billion (EUR 6.07 billion / USD 6.42 billion). The report was announced yesterday at a press conference from Parliament Hill in Ottawa by the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) along with David Kiemele, Managing Director of Cermaq Canada, representing the salmon farming industry in BC.

According to the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), which commissioned the report from Ottawa-based economic consulting firm RIAS Inc.,  these are "unnecessary costs to Canadian taxpayers to compensate for the sector's closure, and to subsidize unproven closed containment technology companies."

"A reckless decision that ignores both science and economic reality"

In their presentation on the report's findings, BC producers said the ban on open net-pen salmon aquaculture in British Columbia will have serious consequences for the Canadian economy, Indigenous communities, and food security.

"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 BC Salmon Farmers Association, commenting on the report.

"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," he added.

Producers said that highlights include annual losses of CAD 1.17 billion (EUR 789.81 million / USD 835.08 million) in economic activity, CAD 435 million (EUR 293.63 million / USD 310.49 million) in GDP, CAD 133.6 million (EUR 90.20 million / USD 95.35 million) per year to First Nations, 4,560 well-paid full-time jobs across Canada, plus the disposal of an additional 50,000 tonnes of Canadian farmed salmon.

"The loss of a CAD 1.1 billion industry, a food industry, a farming industry that provides well-paid jobs in rural, coastal, and Indigenous communities. Let that think in. Can Canada really afford this kind of loss, especially now?" David Kiemele, Managing Director of Cermaq Canada, asked during the press conference.

"Only one example of the many partnerships"

Kiemele - who, during the press conference in Ottawa, recalled that he was there representing "thousands of proud Canadian farmers, both Indigenous and non-indigenous, their families, and small communities that rely on salmon farming for their jobs, their livelihoods, and their futures" - said that every person involved in the sector has been directly and will be indirectly impacted by this current policy decision if there is no change.

Since the ban was announced in June, salmon companies in British Columbia have already halted their investments in the region, but that will not be all. "I want to be very clear, if these jobs are lost they are not coming back. These impacts will be generational," he claimed. As the Managing Director of Cermaq Canada also pointed out, 100% of the salmon farmed today in BC are grown under an agreement between salmon producer companies and Nations.

David Kiemele made it even more personal by giving as an example the specific case of the partnership between his company and the Ahousaht First Nation, which has now been in place for over 20 years and has created "multiple long-term, positive, social and economic benefits."

"Our partnership with the Ahousaht first and foremost is built on a foundation of respecting and protecting wild salmon, under the Nations' government and strict environmental standards but based on Federal recent decisions," he stated.

"Our partnership with the Ahousaht Nation - that has a value, over a thirty-year generational cycle, of CAD 543 million (EUR 367.11 million / USD 387.85 million) to the Ahousaht Nation - is now completely at risk of disappearing. This simply can not happen. This is only one example of the many partnerships that can be found in the salmon farming industry in British Columbia today," he added.

"You cannot cut a cheque for the damage that will occur"

That social impact to which Kiemele referred is precisely what Dallas Smith, spokesperson for the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship, highlighted most when commenting on the results of the economic impact report by RIAS commissioned by the BCSFA.

"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," Smith said.

"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 spokesperson for the FNFFS Coalition continued.

This claim is not new. Back in February 2023, when the ban on marine salmon farms in BC was a fear and not a reality as it is now, the leaders of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship issued a statement recalling that, as rights holders and stewards of their lands, waters, and elements, they will be recognized as sovereign governing authorities of their traditional territories. "Regarding finfish aquaculture, we will choose if, when, and how the sector operates in our waters," they stated then.

More recently, just a month ago, the Kitasoo Xai'xais Nation echoed the same idea in an open letter to the Canadian government and activists against open-net aquaculture in BC from its leader Isaiah Robinson, also present in Ottawa yesterday. "We are committed to working collaboratively, but the focus should be on partnering with the Nations that know their waters, steward their resources, and have everything to lose if this industry — one that is rapidly improving — is unjustly dismantled," he wrote.

"We are part of the solution"

In assessing the results of the impact report, BC salmon producers recalled that the industry has long been committed to continuous innovation. Mandating the sector to transition to unproven technologies in a short time frame, they say, ignores the willingness of BC salmon producers to implement alternative innovations that can achieve the same result.

The BC Salmon Farmers Association insisted that innovative solutions must be tailored to the unique characteristics of the coasts and align with the objectives of First Nations with rights, which host salmon farms in their territories.

"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 Brian Kingzett.

The BCSFA also recalled that federal and independent scientists have repeatedly concluded that salmon farms represent no more than a "minimal risk" and that long-term data continue to indicate that salmon farms are not a determining factor in sea lice levels in wild Pacific salmon.

Producers also insisted that the removal of salmon farms in BC will not impact population levels of wild Pacific salmon and that, as residents of coastal communities, salmon producers understand their responsibility to support the welfare of wild Pacific salmon.

To conclude, the BC Salmon Farmers Association and the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship urged Prime Minister Trudeau to consider "a more realistic, no-cost-to-taxpayers alternative" for the transition that achieves the same outcome as a ban, but without imposing devastating impacts on the sector, First Nations rights and coastal communities in British Columbia.

"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," Dallas Smith stated. "We are part of the solution."