– It will have important consequences – E24

Canada has decided to phase out agricultural licenses around the Discovery Islands in British Columbia as of June 30, 2022.

The shock decision is taken into account by the local indigenous population, who are concerned about the negative impact on wild salmon in the area.

– This decision, and also the timing of it, surprises the industry. We are now working to understand what this means for our business in the region, says Ola Helge Hjetland, Mowi’s director of communications.

Canada is one of the world’s largest producers of farmed salmon, with an annual production of close to 150,000 tons. Only Norway, Chile and Scotland are larger.

At the forefront are Norwegian companies such as Mowi, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood. Mowi is by far the largest, with facilities on the east and west coasts of the country, producing 54,000 tonnes of salmon in Canada in 2019.

At the stroke of the authorities, licenses representing between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes in harvest volume as of 2022 are expiring.

According to Hjetland, it is currently unclear if Mowi will have the opportunity to make up for this volume loss with increased production in other areas.

– We still do not know what room for maneuver we have beyond. But it’s pretty clear that this decision will have major consequences for value creation in the areas where pigs live on Canada’s west coast, Hjetland says.

Under pressure for several years

Mowi fell more than one percent on the Oslo Stock Exchange on Friday.

Although the phase-out that is now occurring in the Discovery Islands is surprising, there is no doubt that the Canadian salmon industry has been under pressure from various sectors for many years.

Both environmental organizations and the indigenous First Nations population have criticized the consequences of the escape of farmed salmon and the high concentrations of salmon lice in the cages, as this is seen as a threat to wild salmon.

In 2019, the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, announced a goal for all salmon farming in British Columbia to take place in closed cages within five years.

The ambition was echoed by the country’s Fisheries Minister, Bernadette Jordan, in mid-November this year.

Alternatives being considered for open cages include moving all production to onshore facilities, facilities in closed fjords, or offshore facilities.

In any case, the restructuring will impose investments of many billions of crowns on the industry.

– We have not heard anything more about this case, and we cannot speculate what this will mean for us, says Hjetland.

Will move production to other facilities

Grieg Seafood communications chief Kristina Furnes writes in an email to E24 that one of the company’s 20 facilities in British Columbia will be affected by the decision.

– We are now looking at how we can increase production correspondingly at other plants in the region, Furnes writes.

Furnes writes that Grieg Seafood staunchly supports each indigenous nation having greater control over its traditional area.

– Overall we are positive and believe in further development in British Columbia. It must happen on indigenous peoples’ terms, something we support and work with, he writes.

– No indicator

Canada’s salmon industry employs more than 11,000 people, primarily in outlying coastal areas.

– The overwhelming message from the First Nations in the area is that they don’t want these farms here. They feel that they should have influence in the areas of their fjords, and I agree with them, says Fisheries Minister Jordan on the Canadian news channel CBC.

Chief Darren Blaney of the Homalco tribe tells the same channel that he is satisfied with the result and points out the cultural importance of salmon for his tribe.

– The wild salmon population has been in decline for several years. Salmon are hardy, so if we give them a chance, I think they will start to accumulate again, Blaney told CBC.

The First Nations demanded the removal of the Discovery Islands facilities in September, but received a response from the Canadian Department of Fisheries that they posed a “minimal risk” to wild salmon in the area, according to nine different scientific studies.

However, the impact of salmon lice was not considered in the studies.

According to the Minister of Fisheries, the current decision does not mean that the rest of the country’s fish farms will suffer the same fate.

“Discovery Islands is an area, it is not an indicator of how everything will develop further,” he told CBC.