A $26m inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon has called for the Canadian government to stop promoting salmon farming as an industry and farmed salmon as a product. The 1191-page report, complied by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, recommends there should be no new net pens in the Discovery Islands, and no increase in production for existing farms. Its findings drew an enthusiastic welcome from the Atlantic Salmon Federation whose president, Bill Taylor, said: “This report may be about the decline of Fraser River sockeye, but its messages are  definitely reverberating across Atlantic Canada, where government is allowing devastating impacts on wild Atlantic salmon by salmon farming in open net pens in the ocean.” Cohen recommended more transparency in managing salmon farms, and the inclusion of non-government and non-industry researchers to assess risks posed to wild stocks. He saw real difficulty in having Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which promotes salmon farming, having its research priorities directed by “clients” such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, whose mandate is not conserving wild fish but trade and economic concerns, or by aquaculture management, whose focus is sustainability of the aquaculture industry. Read more details here.

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