Ocean Ecosystems

Tofino BC, 26 April 2023—As fish farms are being closed around British Columbia, Cermaq Canada has requested a fourth permit to expand their operations near Tofino. Cermaq now has only 14 fish farms left in British Columbia—all in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Twenty-two conservation and Indigenous groups have co-signed a letter to Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray, calling on her to stop the expansion of salmon farms near Tofino, and to remove all fish farms from BC waters by 2025.

Vancouver, traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations:  Fisheries Minister Murray announced today that salmon farms in the critical migration routes of Fraser River salmon, through the Discovery Islands (DI) area near Campbell River, will remain free of Atlantic salmon.

Living Oceans welcomes the news that Minister Murray has decided to protect wild Pacific salmon from the harmful effects of salmon farms in the Discovery Islands.

VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES –A federal judge has set aside a December 2020 decision by the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to phase out open-net fish farming in B.C.’s Discovery Islands by June 2022.

VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES – Ecojustice lawyers are back in court this week and next to support former Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan’s decision to phase out salmon farms in B.C.’s Discovery Islands by June 2022.  

Ecojustice is representing the David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Living Oceans Society, Watershed Watch, and independent biologist Alexandra Morton. 

Vancouver:  In an unprecedented statement released today, Living Oceans joins the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and 110 aquatic scientific societies representing more than 80,000 scientists across the world to sound a climate change alarm.  The societies call for drastically curtailed global greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of man-made climate change to fish and aquatic ecosystems.

VANCOUVER: Expensive new vessels are failing to control the parasites that are decimating wild salmon stocks, according to a report released today by Living Oceans Society. The report analyses the treatments given on the farms over the past two years and assigns a failing grade to the Hydrolicers and wellboats purchased by salmon farming companies at reported costs of $12 to $30 million.