"Canada’s Attempt To Phase Out Open-Pen Salmon Farms Faces Setback"

"Federal judge says farmers had been blindsided by a government order to shut down"

"Canada’s effort to phase out open-pen salmon farms has hit a roadblock after a federal judge said farmers had been blindsided by a government order to shut down.

Federal court judge Elizabeth Heneghan ruled earlier this month that former fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan had failed to grant farm operators the right to procedural fairness when she announced plans to phase out the farms, and criticized the minister’s lack of clarity surrounding the controversial decision that companies said would cost them millions in losses.

In December 2020, Jordan announced that 19 salmon farms in the Discovery Islands, a region off the coast of British Columbia, would be shut down by 2022. She also said that no transfer of fish between hatcheries and the open-pen farms would be allowed during the 18-month phase-out period."

Leyland Cecco reports for the Guardian April 27, 2022.

Source: Guardian, 04/29/2022