Trudeau presses ahead with net pen ban

CANADIAN prime minister Justin Trudeau has instructed his recently appointed fisheries minister, Bernadette Jordan, to instigate a plan to end all net pen farming in British Columbia before the end of 2025.

In his letter to Jordan, Trudeau listed 11 priority tasks for the minister which he said ‘draw heavily from our election platform commitments’.

He said Jordan should ‘work with the province of British Columbia and indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025 and begin work to introduce Canada’s first ever Aquaculture Act’.

There was no mention of closed containment in the instruction. Canada’s fish farmers have already condemned the policy.

Timothy Kennedy, president and chief executive of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA), was scathing about the new development.

‘This is a reckless policy, not grounded in science, and it will threaten good middle-class jobs across Canada.’