Washington State has taken a precautionary approach to protecting wild salmon.
Governor Inslee has signed into law a bill to phase out Atlantic salmon farming from Washington State waters. Farms will cease operations at the conclusion of their current leases. The phase out will be complete by 2022.
The potential risk farmed Atlantic salmon pose to declining wild salmon populations was the key reason for the historic move. It also follows after a major fish farm collapse last year, which saw around 250,000 fish escape into the Salish Sea.
Open-net pen salmon farms situated along wild salmon migration routes can pose threats such as sea lice and disease transfer. Thirteen Pacific wild salmon populations are currently listed by COSEWIC as Endangered or Threatened. A number of these migrate in both Washington and B.C waters.
It remains to be seen whether the B.C. government will follow Washington State’s precautionary lead. Numerous B.C. salmon farm tenures are up for renewal this June – many of which are in unceded First Nations territories that have actively opposed open-net salmon farming for decades.
Read more in the press release issued by SeaChoice partner organization Living Oceans Society and their allies.
For more information on open-net pen aquaculture and the accompanying challenges, you can visit our information centre, as well as our priority species profiles for Atlantic salmon farmed on the east and west coasts of Canada.
