Salmon Farming in B.C. Tops National Aquaculture Agenda

New leadership at Canadian Seafood Farmers pushes for science-based policies, investment certainty and increased domestic seafood production as Ottawa faces growing pressure over its 2029 salmon farming ban in British Columbia.

By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews

Canada’s seafood farming industry is putting the future of salmon farming in British Columbia at the top of its national agenda as newly elected leaders push Ottawa to protect jobs, attract investment and expand domestic seafood production.

Canadian Seafood Farmers, formerly the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance, announced its 2026–2027 executive committee this week, led by chair Joel Richardson of New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture.

The leadership takes office as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government faces   mounting pressure to reconsider the activist-driven Trudeau-era ban on ocean salmon farming in B.C., despite federal scientific assessments finding the marine operations posed no more than minimal risk to wild salmon.

Securing a science-based future for B.C. salmon farming is among the association’s three priorities, alongside greater recognition for seafood farmers within Canadian agriculture and modernizing federal shellfish regulations.

“Our priority is clear: grow more Canadian seafood here at home in an environmentally responsible way,” said Richardson.

“Our farmers and the Canadian businesses that support them are ready to invest more, create more jobs and strengthen food security by making Canadian seafood more available and affordable than imports.”

  Canada imported more than $1 billion worth of salmon in 2025, even as B.C.’s farmed salmon production has fallen by more than 45 per cent since 2015 following successive federal decisions that forced ocean farm closures.

The association’s renewed focus on B.C. comes as salmon farmers and coastal First Nations warn that the planned ban on ocean salmon farming threatens approximately 4,560 full-time jobs and $1.17 billion in annual economic activity.

According to Canadian Seafood Farmers, the national aquaculture industry generates $6 billion in economic activity, contributes $2 billion to GDP and supports 18,000 jobs, with annual exports exceeding $1 billion.

The association’s recent name change reflects a broader push to position seafood farming alongside traditional agriculture as a vital contributor to Canadian food security and economic growth.

Jennifer Woodland of Cermaq Canada was elected vice-chair, Cyr Couturier treasurer and Mia Parker of Mowi Canada secretary.

Other executive members include Elizabeth Barlow of Cermaq Canada, Steve Langley of Atlantic Aqua Farms, Gordon McLellan of Mac’s Oysters, Trevor Stanley of Skretting North America and Wendy Vandersteen of Taplow Feeds.

Timothy Kennedy, president and CEO of Canadian Seafood Farmers, said the new leadership will focus on securing the regulatory certainty needed for industry growth.

“Their leadership will help us advance the policy certainty and recognition our members need to grow,” he said.

Meanwhile, former B.C. premier Christy Clark has joined growing calls to reconsider the salmon farming ban, warning that it will further undermine Indigenous communities already struggling with declining resource industries.

Speaking at the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance’s annual summit in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Clark said the scientific evidence does not establish that open-net salmon farming causes long-term environmental damage.

“This (ban) will have bad impacts on many Indigenous communities,” she said. “First, they lost their ability to access (income) from forests and now it’s aquaculture.”

More than 1,000 Indigenous people work directly or indirectly in salmon farming, while the sector delivers an estimated $134 million annually in economic benefits to First Nations. Every active salmon farm in B.C. operates under an agreement with the Rights-holder First Nation, in whose territory it is located.

Main image from top left clockwise shows Mia Parker of Mowi Canada, Cyr Couturier, Jennifer Woodland of Cermaq Canada and Joel Richardson of Cooke Aquaculture.