Federal decision to shut down B.C. salmon farms prompts company court challenge

A British Columbia salmon farming company is due to appear in court to challenge the federal government’s decision not to renew its license for an open-net farm off Vancouver Island.

Documents filed in federal court in Vancouver by Mowi Canada West seek judicial review of last month’s decision by Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray to close 15 salmon farms.

Mowi’s application seeks an order to reverse or reverse Murray’s decision to close its 11 open-net salmon farms off the Discovery Islands near the Campbell River.

It asks the court to remand the matter back to Murray and declare the minister’s February decision “unreasonable, void and illegal.”

The federal government has not responded to the application, but as she announced her decision last month, Murray said recent science shows uncertainty about the risks fish farms pose to wild salmon, and the government is open net. He said he was committed to migrating from the farm.

Farms off the coast of British Columbia have been criticized by industry, local politicians and others, while environmental groups and some indigenous peoples claim the farms are linked to diseases transmitted to wild salmon. Indigenous peoples claim they are safe and thousands are threatened by the closure. work.

“Prior to the decision to end aquaculture in the Discovery Islands region, Mowi had 645 employees in BC, a significant number of whom were Indigenous,” the court filing said. . “Mowi’s workforce has been reduced to his 312 employees since the minister’s decision to ban aquaculture in the Discovery Islands.”

2:27
Ottawa to close 15 salmon farms off British Columbia coast to protect wild fish