By Canadian Press

B.C. First Nations claim fish farm licences infringe upon Aboriginal fishing rights

Aug 6, 2024 | 8:33 AM

VANCOUVER — Two B.C. First Nations are taking the federal government and fish farm companies to court trying to overturn a decision that allows the farms to continue to operate off B.C.’s coast for another five years.

The ‘Namgis and the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nations say in separate Federal Court applications the decision infringes on their Aboriginal rights.

The fisheries department had been phasing out the fish farms, but last month Canada’s fisheries minister extended licences for another five years for Grieg Seafood and Mowi Canada to continue to run 14 farms.

In the ‘Namgis’ application, the First Nation claims fish stocks of pink, coho, Chinook and sockeye salmon have become “severely depleted,” prompting the Nation to stop fishing for those stocks in Nimpkish River, build a hatchery and start a pilot project for a land-based fish farm facility.

The application says the fish farms licensed by the minister are “along crucial choke points of the migratory routes of wild Pacific salmon” that the nation have been fishing for since “time immemorial.”

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The ‘Namgis say the minister is mandated to protect and conserve fish, but the fisheries department has allegedly ignored that mandate since it began regulating fish aquaculture, and the department’s “history of mismanagement, regulatory capture, and bias is notorious.”

The Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation’s application says the federal government made the decision to licence the fish farms without proper consultation, despite “the increased threat to already declining migrating wild salmon posed by the ongoing operation of the fish farms.”

“For consultation to be meaningful, a decision-maker must engage in consultation efforts in good faith and with an open mind,” the application says. “A consultation process that provides no opportunity to inform or change the course of the decision is merely an opportunity to ‘blow off steam.’”

The ‘Namgis’ application says the decision to give licences to Grieg and Mowi’s fish farms for another five years “creates a direct risk to the survival of wild Pacific salmon” and the nation’s ability to continue exercising its Aboriginal right to fish.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024

The Canadian Press