Mowi sa国际传媒 has won a temporary reprieve from a order preventing the company from stocking two open-net salmon farms in the Discovery Islands.
A Federal Court judge granted an injunction that Mowi sa国际传媒 and three other salmon farming companies sought against an order by federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, who refused transfer licences and ordered all salmon farms out of the Discovery Islands by the end of June 2022.
Jordan鈥檚 order applies to about 30% of Mowi sa国际传媒鈥檚 operation in sa国际传媒, and would have a financial impact of close to $200 million. It also affects the operations of a smaller operator, Saltstream, which has a single salmon farm in the area.
鈥淲hile aquaculture in the Discovery Islands may pose a risk to wild salmon populations generally, it has not been established that the risk from allowing the transfer of fish into three sites is great enough to weigh against granting the injunction,鈥� Justice Peter George Pamel says in his decision.
鈥淭he harm to Mowi and Saltstream, as well as their employees, their families and other businesses in the community, in particular First Nations businesses, will be real and substantial if the injunction is not granted.鈥�
鈥淥ur Federal Court application for judicial review of the minister鈥檚 Dec. 17, 2020, order to not renew our licenses for Hardwicke, Philips Arm, and other sites in the Discovery Islands area continues,鈥� Diane Morrison, Mowi sa国际传媒鈥檚 managing director, said in a statement.
鈥淏ut for now we do not have to cull any more fish and dozens of jobs are secure for at least a while longer.鈥�
In December, Jordan refused to approve transfer licences needed to move salmon from nursery sites to other open-net farm sites in the Discovery Islands. She ordered all open-net salmon farms in the Discovery Islands to be off the water by the end of June 2022.
Mowi is part of a judicial review appealing that order. In the meantime, Mowi sa国际传媒 and three other companies sought an injunction against Jordan鈥檚 order, which meant that juvenile聽salmon could not be transferred from nurseries to other open-net farm sites in the Discovery Islands to be able to be grown to maturity.
Farmed salmon are grown in freshwater hatcheries, then transferred to open-net nurseries after about one year, and then are often transferred again to other open-net pen sites until they reach harvest size.
Each transfer requires a federal licence.
Jordan鈥檚 refusal to approve transfer licences left younger salmon in various stages of growth with nowhere to go. Mowi has already had to euthanize more than 900,000 juvenile salmon as a result of the order. Another 1.1 million would have had to be euthanized, had the injunction not been granted, said Dean Dobrinsky, Mowi sa国际传媒鈥檚 director of human resources and communications.
鈥淚n effect, the minster has to turn back the clock to before Dec. 17,鈥� Dobrinsky said.
Dobrinsky said the injunction means Mowi should be able to stock two fish farms 鈥� Phillips Arm and Hardwicke. It doesn鈥檛 mean the Discovery Island salmon farms can continue past 2022, however, unless Mowi sa国际传媒 also wins a judicial review against that decision.
鈥淚t allows us to grow out the salmon at the two sites in the Discovery Islands,鈥� Dobrinksy said.
