At least four companies which provide supplies and services to BC’s aquaculture industry are suing the Federal Government for losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars stemming from two ministerial decisions to shut down salmon farms in the Discovery Islands.
The companies allege that current Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray and her predecessor Bernadette Jordan “wilfully engaged” in making the “unlawful decisions” while being aware at all times that the actions would harm the companies and their employees.
Murray, Jordan and the Attorney General are named as defendants in the lawsuit brought by Aquatrans Distributors Inc., Browns Bay Packing Company Ltd. and Sure Cold Refrigerated Storage Inc. A separate lawsuit was filed by the Indigenous-owned J.W. Walkus Fishing Company.
The original decision to shutter 19 open-net salmon farms in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands was made in 2020 by former Fisheries minister Jordan.
Last April, the Federal Court ordered the government to set aside the decision due to procedural breaches by Jordan, and reaffirmed an earlier ruling that all the evidence provided showed “salmon aquaculture in B.C. poses no more than a minimal risk to wild salmon.”
Murray, who took over Jordan’s portfolio after the last election, then ordered up consultations with the stakeholders to meet the procedural requirements before making the same decision as her predecessor earlier this year.
Both ministers ignored their own scientists, who found in 10 studies that the farms had minimal impact on the wild fish migrating through the area.
Separately, Murray and her officials are also working on implementing an open-net pen transition plan for all of BC, expected to be finalized in the Spring of 2023.
The Discovery Islands decision is also being challenged by salmon farmers Mowi Canada West, Cermaq Canada Ltd. and Grieg Seafood BC Ltd and Wai Kum First Nation (Campbell River Indian Band) and and We Wai Kai First Nation (Cape Mudge Indian Band).
In its entirety, the Discovery Island decision alone will shut down more than 24% of BC’s farmed salmon production and kill the livelihoods of 1,500 people in the near term, according to an independent economic analysis.