B.C. government accepts recommendations around salmon collapse report

VICTORIA – The B.C. government says it has no intention of approving any new agreements for net-pen salmon farms near the Discovery Islands.

The promise stems from recommendations in the Cohen Commission report specifically aimed at British Columbia’s management of salmon.

One of those recommendations was a freeze on net-pen salmon production in the Broughton archipelago.

The government says it’s accepted, or accepted the intent of the recommendations made by the commission, which investigated the collapse of the Fraser River salmon fishery in 2009.

Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick says the response shows the government’s commitment to ecologically responsible management of the province’s fishery.

Critics had claimed lice infestations in the Broughton archipelago wiped out sockeye smolts, but after 138 days of hearings, the Cohen commission found no single reason for the collapse.