Question Period Note: Cohen Commission Recommendation 19 on Aquaculture in the Discovery Islands Area

• My department is committed to the conservation and protection of our wild Pacific salmon.
• That is why my department’s policy and decision making on potential risk to wild Pacific salmon relies heavily on sound, peer-reviewed science advice.
• The Department has completed nine peer-reviewed, scientific risk assessments to determine the impact of interactions between wild Pacific salmon and pathogens from salmon farms. A summary of the findings can be found on the DFO website.
• The results of these assessments concluded that the transfer of these pathogens pose a minimal risk to abundance and diversity of migrating Fraser River Sockeye salmon in the Discovery Islands area.
• As new information becomes available, my department remains open to reviewing and incorporating the information as part of its adaptive management process.

If pressed on First Nations consultations:
• My department has begun consultations with the seven First Nations in the Discovery Islands area, seeking their input on the renewal of aquaculture licences in their traditional territories. Their input will inform licence renewal decisions that are to be made in December 2020.

If pressed on sea lice:
• The Department continues to put in place measures to ensure that sea lice from salmon farms present no more than a minimal impact on wild salmon.
• The Department has been conducting research on sea lice and its interactions with farmed and wild salmon for many years. In addition, there is an extensive body of science knowledge and research on sea lice that has been, and is currently being, conducted by many researchers internationally.
• This body of science has been used to develop the Department’s science advice, which informs the Department’s management decisions.
• The Department’s overall management of sea lice and fish health on farms is adaptive and revised as new evidence emerges.

• On November 5, 2009, Canada established the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River (“Cohen Commission”) to investigate the decline of Sockeye salmon stocks and to provide recommendations.
• The final report of the Cohen Commission, The Uncertain Future of Fraser River Sockeye, was released October 2012. The report did not find any single factor leading to decreased Sockeye salmon stocks.
• The report made 75 recommendations, the majority of which focused on Pacific salmon fisheries management, fisheries science, salmon habitat protection, and the implementation of the Wild Salmon Policy.
• 13 of the 75 recommendations related specifically to aquaculture.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), along with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the Province of British Columbia (BC), have taken actions to address all 75 of these recommendations.
• In response to the Cohen Commission’s Recommendation 19, DFO looked at the overall risk estimate to Fraser River Sockeye salmon from diseases that occur in Atlantic salmon farms. The scientific risk assessments focused on farms located in the Discovery Islands area.
• The nine peer-reviewed, scientific risk assessments concluded that the transfer of these pathogens pose, at most, a minimal risk to migrating Fraser River Sockeye salmon in the area. A summary of the findings and science advice has been posted on the DFO website (https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/cohen/iles-discovery-islands-eng.html).

Consultations with First Nations in the Discovery Islands area
• Following the web posting of science advice in late September 2020, DFO is consulting with the seven First Nations in the Discovery Islands area regarding next steps before any decision on licence renewals will take place. The current licences will expire in December 2020.
• DFO is consulting with the Holmalco, Klahoose, K’ómoks, Kwiakah, Tla'amin, We Wai Kai, and Wei Wai Kum First Nations.
• The information exchanged will inform the government’s decision on whether or not to renew aquaculture licenses in the area, prior to the December 18, 2020 deadline.

Sea Lice
• Sea lice are naturally occurring parasites that have lived in BC’s coastal waters for thousands of years. Farmed fish are free of sea lice when they enter the ocean, but can pick them up in the marine environment.
• The Department requires sea lice management, treatment, and mitigation measures at farms when sea lice levels are high. These measures have been very effective; most years, more than 90 per cent of sites are below the regulatory thresholds for sea lice during the outmigration period (March 1 to June 30).
• DFO scientists work diligently to build understanding and knowledge about sea lice, its relationship to the marine environment and fish, and the treatments and methods used to reduce its abundance near wild and farmed species.
• The extensive body of literature on sea lice is constantly evolving. The Department’s overall management of sea lice and fish health on farms is adaptive and revised as new evidence emerges. Any evidence of population-level harm resulting from salmon farms would prompt the immediate revision, and potentially suspension, of aquaculture licences to ensure the conservation of wild salmon stocks.

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