B.C. Salmon Farming Ban Casts Investment Chill Across Atlantic Canada

Multinational aquaculture companies fear Ottawa’s plan to ban salmon farming in British Columbia could spread east, creating a “broader investment chill” across Atlantic Canada, according to a new report.

By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews

Ottawa’s plan to end ocean salmon farming in British Columbia is casting a pall over investment across Atlantic Canada and fuelling concerns that the nation is surrendering ground in one of the world’s fastest-growing food sectors, according to a new report.

Farming Our Future: A Roadmap for Responsible Growth in Atlantic Canada’s Finfish Sector says multinational companies are increasingly wary of investing in Canadian aquaculture because they fear the federal approach taken in B.C. could eventually spread east.

“Though the ban has predictably halted investment in British Columbia, it has also created a broader investment chill across Atlantic Canada,” states the September 2026 report commissioned by the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association (ACFFA).

It says multinational companies are concerned the B.C. policy could “migrate to Atlantic Canada,” even though the provinces there retain primary control over aquaculture regulation.

The warning comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to host the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Sept. 14 and 15, bringing together global investors, Canadian business leaders and public-sector officials as Ottawa seeks to catalyse $1 trillion in investment over five years.

At the same time, aquaculture leaders from across Canada will gather in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, for the Cold Harvest & Aquaculture Canada Conference and Trade Show from Sept. 15 to 17, where investment, innovation and the sector’s growth prospects are expected to dominate discussions.

“We have what the world wants. And for an investor, a country that respects rule of law, and a country that is reliable, that combination is pretty rare in the world, and it’s an attractive combination,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa this week.

That pitch for Canada as a stable destination for global capital is colliding with mounting frustration from salmon farmers, who say federal policy is sending investors a very different signal.

Jennifer Woodland, chair of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, said   Ottawa is allowing Canada to fall behind countries investing heavily in aquaculture technology and production.

“We need investment. We need food. We need jobs. We need ocean resource sustainability. We need salmon farming in net pens supported by a whole host of new technologies,” Woodland wrote in a social media post.

“I am tired of falling behind other countries in investment and technology. Ottawa it’s time to reverse the ban and get back to sustainable food production that attracts investment and opportunity.”

The ACFFA report makes the same argument on a national scale.

Canada’s farmed salmon production fell from just over 148,000 tonnes in 2016 to slightly more than 109,000 tonnes in 2024. Norway’s farmed salmon industry is now 16 times larger than Canada’s, while Chile, which entered salmon farming decades after Canada, has become the world’s second-largest farmed salmon exporter.

Canada’s shrinking domestic production is also being offset by rising imports.

Last year, Canada spent more than $1 billion buying salmon from foreign suppliers, effectively replacing domestic production with fish shipped through increasingly complex global supply chains. That included $41.1 million worth of salmon from China, which has little salmon production of its own but has built a major processing industry around imported fish.

The report argues the decline in B.C. has become a warning to investors considering projects elsewhere in Canada.

B.C. salmon production has fallen by more than 40 per cent, resulting in an estimated loss of more than $700 million in GDP and about 3,000 jobs, it states.

“Companies will not invest new capital or time in a jurisdiction where they know an end date is fast approaching,” the report says.

In 2024, the Trudeau government announced that conventional open-net pen salmon farming in B.C. would end by June 30, 2029, after years of pressure from anti-salmon farming groups.

The decision came despite federal science assessments that Atlantic salmon farms in B.C. posed no more than minimal risk to migrating wild salmon under existing farming practices.

Industry leaders say the resulting uncertainty has stalled investment, weakened confidence in Canada as a place to build aquaculture projects and accelerated the country’s growing dependence on imported salmon.

Atlantic Canada has so far avoided the steep production decline seen in B.C., but the new report says the sector faces other major barriers like regulatory delay.

Applications for new farms or expansions can take as long as seven years. Norway, by comparison, targets 26 weeks for straightforward applications.

Even after approval, companies can face another three to five years before reaching their first harvest, leaving investors waiting more than a decade before seeing a return.

One industry operator consulted for the report put the competitive gap more starkly, saying a company wanting to invest $100 million could do so in Norway within a week and Scotland within six months, while in Canada “it would take years.”

One of the report’s most significant recommendations is for Ottawa to shift responsibility for promoting and developing aquaculture from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The authors argue DFO is primarily a regulator charged with protecting wild fish and habitat, leaving aquaculture without a federal department whose mandate includes promoting industry growth.

International investors, the report says, now associate DFO with Ottawa’s decision to end conventional ocean salmon farming in B.C., adding to uncertainty over long-term investments in Canada.

The report’s  also calls for faster approvals, more predictable regulation, greater support for innovation and a reassessment of federal Marine Protected Area policies.

Tom Taylor, executive director of the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association said the report provides a roadmap for governments at a time when economic growth, Canadian food production and the strength of rural and coastal communities are increasingly important priorities.

“Our industry is ready to work collaboratively with governments, Indigenous communities, coastal stakeholders, and Canadians to responsibly grow this sector,”  he said.

Main image shows Prime Minister Mark Carney in between Premier Tony Wakeham and Québec Premier Christine Fréchette at a media announcement in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.