July 13, 2010
The federal Fisheries Department has announced new rules to take over the licensing of fish farms in British Columbia (BC).
But the proposed regulations will only apply in BC, where a court ruling last year forced the provincial government to relinquish that jurisdiction to Ottawa. Under the new rules, the province will continue to grant the leases for fish farms, but the Fisheries Department will be the licensing authority in the province.
"The court decision that gave rise to the regulation applies uniquely and solely in British Columbia and so this regulation is built for British Columbia aquaculture and applies only in British Columbia," said Trevor Swerdfager, director general of fisheries and aquaculture management for the department.
"It is very much a BC-oriented exercise and the federal government has no plan to expand the implementation or the application, rather, of this regulation outside British Columbia," said Swerdfager.
Swerdfager said the industry will continue to be regulated by provincial and territorial governments in the other nine provinces and in the Yukon. Nunavut and the Northwest Territories do not have aquaculture activity, he said.
The new rules will take effect in mid-December, following public consultations.
Opponents of salmon farms launched the BC court case, arguing the farms are a fishery that impacts the ocean, which is under federal jurisdiction. Ottawa delegated responsibility for licensing fish farms to the provinces in the late 1980s.
In BC, fish farms are currently licensed by the provincial Agriculture Ministry. In New Brunswick, which also has a large fish-farming industry, they are regulated by the department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.
