17 fish farms to be phased out under new agreement between B.C. government, First Nations

Seventeen fish farms off the northeastern tip of Vancouver Island will be phased out by 2023 under a new agreement between First Nations and the province, the premier announced Friday. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Farms in Broughton Archipelago will be gone by 2023

by Megan Thomas, CBC News, Dec 14, 2018

Seventeen open-pen fish farms in B.C.’s Broughton Archipelago will be phased out by 2023 under a new agreement between First Nations and the provincial government, the premier announced Friday.

The decision is part of a set of recommendations reached through a government-to-government consultation between the province and the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis, ‘Namgis and Mamalilikulla First Nations.

6 protesters arrested after anti-fish farm demonstration in Victoria

Protesters boarded the Orca Chief vessel at Point Hope on Wednesday

CBC News, September 5, 2018

Six protesters were arrested after a demonstration against fish farms at a shipyard in Victoria early Wednesday.

The group boarded the dry-docked Orca Chief vessel in the Point Hope shipyard around 7:30 a.m. PT.

The boat is owned by Marine Harvest, which owns and operates several fish farms on the B.C. coast. 

Federal court dismisses B.C. First Nation’s bid to block fish farm restocking

Court said there is ‘likelihood of harm’ from fish-borne disease, but rejected injunction because of timing

The Canadian Press, March 26, 2018

A B.C. First Nation has lost its court bid to prevent the restocking of an open-net salmon farm in its traditional territories off northern Vancouver Island.

The ‘Namgis First Nation had asked the Federal Court for an injunction against Marine Harvest that would have blocked the company from transferring up to one million juvenile Atlantic salmon, known as smolts, to its Swanson Island farm.

B.C. First Nation in federal court in bid to halt fish farm restocking

The Canadian Press, March 13, 2018

VICTORIA – A First Nation is asking the Federal Court to prevent the restocking of an open-net salmon farm in its traditional territories off northern Vancouver Island.

The Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay says prior to any fish transfer to an open-net pen at nearby Swanson Island, the Atlantic salmon smolts should be tested for the blood virus piscine reovirus.

Video: Marine Harvest serves injunction in Alert Bay against fish farm opponents

March 10, 2018, via Facebook

Marine Harvest serves an injunction against opponents to fish farms in Alert Bay, BC.  See the video below:

Kwakwaka’wakw leaders hand eviction notice to B.C. fish farm

Members of B.C. First Nations deliver an eviction notice to a fish farm operated by Marine Harvest on Jan. 22, 2018. (CTV Vancouver)

CTV News, January 22, 2018

Setting out from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, members of at least six B.C. First Nations took to the sea Monday to deliver an eviction notice to a fish farm operated by Marine Harvest: one of Canada’s largest producers of farmed Atlantic salmon.

B.C. Supreme Court grants injunction against fish farm protesters

Marine Harvest operates more than 30 fish farms in B.C., which employ over 500 people. (CBC News)

Marine Harvest operates a site near Port Hardy, B.C., that has been the site of demonstrations for months

CBC News, Dec 27, 2017

The B.C. Supreme Court has granted an injunction against a number of people who have trespassed on a fish farm company’s property in recent months.

Marine Harvest Canada applied for the injunction for their licensed aquaculture site on Midsummer Island, one of several fish farms they operate in the Broughton Archipelago, east of Port Hardy.

Protesters ordered off Midsummer Island fish farm

by Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun, Nov 14, 2017

First Nations protesters have been ordered to vacate their camp on a fish farm near Midsummer Island for 30 days while they prepare for a court date on Marine Harvest’s application for an injunction that would see them permanently removed from the site.

Dancing protesters urge end to fish farms

First Nations demonstrators gather around a fire at the B.C. legislature on Thursday, calling for an end to open-net fish farms. They drew about 200 supporters to their cause. Photograph By Amy Smart

by Carla Wilson, Times Colonist, November 2, 2017
First Nations protesters danced and drummed around a crackling fire in front of the B.C. legislature Thursday, calling for an end to open-net fish farms.

Leaders of the protest, which drew about 200 supporters, say now that the NDP says it’s listening, they want to see farm tenures revoked.

First Nations Assert Food Fishing Rights In Area of Fish Farm Restocking

Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw Cleansing Our Waters, October 23, 2017
Press Release
First Nations Assert Food Fishing Rights In Area of Fish Farm Restocking Several food-fishing gillnet boats operated by ‘Namgis and Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw fishermen in Knight Inlet were approached on Friday evening by a salmon smolt restocking vessel, the Orca Chief, operated by the Norwegian-owned company Marine Harvest, on its way to restock the Port Elizabeth fish farm, owned by the same company.