Victory for Homalco First Nation and for Bute’s Wild Salmon

In December Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) discontinued its environmental review of a proposed salmon farm in Bute Inlet, saying that the proponent, Heritage Aquaculture, has withdrawn its application. 

In 2001, the Bute Inlet Downie Range site was proposed as an alternate location for environmentally problematic salmon farms inAlberni Inlet and Barkley Sound. The application met strong opposition from key stakeholders including the Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation, the Georgia Strait Alliance, the Stuart Island Community Association, the commercial and sports fishing sectors, the eco-tourism industry and the Comox Strathcona Regional District, which denied zoning for the proposed site in August of 2001. 

This past spring the Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation and the Georgia Strait Alliance formed an official partnership to work collaboratively towards the restoration, protection and sustainability of Bute Inlet. “Salmon farming as currently practiced is not consistent with the Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) vision of Bute Inlet or the recommendations of the Johnstone-Bute Coastal Plan,” said Xwémalhkwu Chief Darren Blaney. 

In a follow up victory for First Nations and salmon on December 28,th the Homalco won an injunction under the Supreme Court Haida ruling, when a BC Supreme Court judge ordered Marine Harvest, the fish-farming arm of the Dutch multinational Nutreco, to stop putting Atlantic salmon smolts into its pens at the mouth of Bute Inlet. The site had been licensed to raise Chinook, a prized salmon native to the area. The fish farm is located directly in front of the band’s traditional village and reserve known as Church House, at the mouth of Bute Inlet and on the migration route of wild salmon that spawn in Bute’s rivers. 

The judge ruled that the provincial government had not adequately consulted with the Homalco about the company’s application to switch to Atlantic salmon. The judge also ruled that there could be irreparable harm as a result of moving Atlantic salmon into a watershed such as Bute Inlet and that this irreparable harm should be avoided until a full hearing on the duty to consult was held in January. He also ordered a judicial review of the process which granted the fish farm license in 2002. 

—Georgia Strait Alliance, December 2004

[From WS January/February 2005]

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