Agriculture Minister Lana Popham has been advocating the curtailment of open-net salmon farms for years. She has endorsed protests (“Thank you to all the salmon warriors out there”), delivered speeches and moved motions to that effect.
But she was noticeably reticent Wednesday, when she announced a major new policy that will set the stage for exactly that.
Four years from now, salmon farms will likely be vacating operations in the Broughton Archipelago, if they don’t give up and wind down even earlier than that.
Operations everywhere else on the coast will also have to meet stringent new conditions in order to carry on.
It will be the culmination of a campaign Popham has been involved with for years, over concern about the hotly debated impacts of the farms on wild stocks. The new policy, fully endorsed by cabinet, is a major victory for her. But if there were any high fives after she set the course, they were behind closed doors.
Les Leyne – Times Colonist – June 21, 2018.
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