Discovery Islands

A Federal Court judge has ruled in favour of Mowi Canada West and Saltstream, which challenged Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan’s policy decision to ban the restocking of pen sites in the Discovery Islands ahead of the June 2022 fish farm phaseout.

An environmental coalition is in court to try and prevent salmon farm companies from securing a ruling to allow the transfer of 1.2 million fish to sites in the Discovery Islands this summer, despite a federal ban around restocking the farms.

It's still unclear if the rubber will hit the road in rural, remote North Island communities that have non-existent or inadequate intercity service as the B.C. government allocates millions in COVID-19 funding to bus companies.

A West Coast MP is urging Ottawa to craft a transition plan with those affected by the potential employment and economic impacts of a recent decision to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands.

A coalition of Vancouver Island mayors and industry stakeholders say Ottawa's decision to phase out Discovery Islands fish farms puts 1,500 jobs at risk.

Fish farm opponents on the West Coast are jubilant after Ottawa’s announcement Thursday that operations in the Discovery Islands are being phased out over the next 18 months.

Bernadette Jordan announced Thursday that contentious fish farms in the Discovery Islands on the West Coast will be phased out over the next 18 months.

Cermaq Canada has stocked close to half a million Atlantic salmon smolts into a new semi-closed containment system (SCCS) in Millar Channel on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Ken Hardie, who represents the British Columbia riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, raised several questions during a parliamentary committee meeting about the assessments studied by the department to arrive at its conclusion that open-net pen fish farms pose little risk to wild salmon.

The new Breton Island-Whitridge Reserve is a 12.6-acre island located in the Discovery Islands archipelago that is wedged between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island.

Opponents are accusing the DFO of ignoring independent science and downplaying the risks to imperiled Fraser River sockeye salmon in favour of the aquaculture industry.

The B.C. government is looking for input from ferry dependent residents in the Discovery Islands about B.C. Ferries' future. But a Quadra Island mom of four says it's a "clustermuck" to get her family off island in the summer and things need to change now.