Mowi Canada wins reprieve on salmon stocking for BC farms
MOWI Canada has won an injunction in a Canadian Federal court that will potentially allow it to continue stocking farms in the Discovery Islands region, at least temporarily.
In December, Canada’s Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan ordered that all opennet fish farms in the Discovery islands, in British Columbia, will need to close by the end of June 2022 and also said that firms would not be allowed to restock the farm sites in the meantime.
Mowi took the minister to court, arguing that the ban on transferring stock to two of its farms was unreasonable and would lead to job losses, and the unncessary culling of more than 12 million healthy fish - since there would be nowhere to transfer them.
The court has now granted an injunction that means the minister must consider Mowi’s request for transfer licences. Subject to veterinary approval, Mowi hopes the applications will be granted but the decision remains with the government.
In January this year, Mowi Canada West, Cermaq, and Grieg the operators of other Discovery Island farms, filed an application in Federal Court seeking a ruling to overturn the Minister’s order of December 2020 altogether.