PACIFIC WILD STATEMENT

First Nations have an uncontestable right to fish for wild salmon; it is central to First Nations’ culture and traditions. Irrefutably, open-net fish farms threaten wild salmon, and the majority of First Nations and Canadians support the removal of open-net salmon farms. To this end, 120 First Nations in BC support the ban on open-net salmon farms. Collectively, we support a transition to land-based salmon farming, but another five years is too long. By 2029, it will have been 17 years of open-net pen farms, after the Cohen Commission’s recommended removal in 2012. There is still no transition plan in place. More than half of Pacific wild salmon runs are in decline with many listed as endangered or threatened.

Our message to the commercially focused multinational salmon farming industry is that wild salmon cannot withstand another five years of a threat to their survival. A transition to land-based farming must be actioned now.