On June 19, 2024, the federal government announced an official ban on open-net pen salmon farms in BC, with a transition deadline by 2029, to protect wild Pacific salmon populations.

Experts say wild salmon species are under imminent threat from salmon farming, which has led to escapes (including sick fish), a dramatic rise in sea lice, and the risk of wild salmon being entirely replaced by hybrid species.

While broader factors linked to the climate crisis are difficult to address quickly, the human-made impacts of fish farming can be acted on immediately.

Vegard Heggem, a former Liverpool player who became a salmon campaigner for Norske Lakseelver (Norwegian Salmon Rivers), advocates for transitioning salmon farming to closed containment and supports a government-imposed deadline on doing so as Canada has done in British Columbia.

Read full article by The Guardian here.