Aquaculture company Cermaq Canada Ltd. is suing the federal government for refusing to issue fish-farm licences in the Discovery Islands, saying it has lost millions of dollars as a result of a flawed decision-making process.
In 2023, then-federal fisheries minister Joyce Murray decided not to renew fish-farm licences in the Discovery Islands, located off the east coast of Vancouver Island between Campbell River and the mainland.
Last year, the Federal Court turned down a challenge to the federal decision from two First Nations and salmon farms. Judge Paul Favel wrote that Murray’s decision met consultation requirements and did not breach operators’ rights to fairness.
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada official said it’s unable to comment on the latest suit, because it’s before the courts.
In the notice of civil claim filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. in Vancouver on Feb. 18, Cermaq is seeking general and other damages. It did not name a dollar amount.
The suit names the Attorney General of Canada, the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and Joyce Murray.
Cermaq said it began operating in the Discovery Islands area in 1989 and employed about 50 people per year. Its salmon farms in that area historically represented about 20 per cent of the company’s annual business, the company said.
“Cermaq’s operations have substantially contributed to the North Island economy through employment opportunities, as well as contractual arrangements that have provided tens of millions of dollars per year to local businesses, including Indigenous-owned businesses,” it said.
The full production cycle from spawning of broodstock to harvesting takes seven to eight years, the claim said. Once in the Discovery Islands farms, fish were harvested after 18 months to two years, a schedule that was well-known to the federal government, it said.
Cermaq has consent to operate agreements and support from the Wei Wai Kum First Nation and the Klahoose First Nation, the claim said.
It said federal officials did not notify it in early 2023 of additional meetings with scientists, activities and environmental non-governmental organizations known to oppose aquaculture, and the company was not given the opportunity to respond to them.
The 2023 decision prohibited aquaculture at Discovery Island farms without adequate notice or justification, the claim said.
As a result of the decision, Cermaq was forced to sell its smolts intended for Discovery Island farms, the claim said.
The decision “removed all reasonable uses of Cermaq’s property and related rights,” the claim said, and made its specialized facilities, equipment and infrastructure “useless.”
The company said it has lost millions of dollars in profit and incurred severance and remediation costs, and was forced to sell eggs, smolts and fish at a loss as a result of an “unfair and unreasonable” decision.
The federal decision effectively resulted in the expropriation of Cermaq’s property interests without compensation, the claim said.
