Lack of Fairness, Reasons Prompts Federal Court to Set Aside BC Fish Farm Phase-Out

An Atlantic salmon is seen during a Department of Fisheries and Oceans fish health audit near Campbell River, B.C. Oct. 31, 2018. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

A Federal Court judge has set aside a Department of Fisheries order that would have phased out fish farming in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands.

Federal Court Judge Elizabeth Heneghan says in a decision issued April 22 that the order made in late 2020 by then-fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan breached the right to procedural fairness owed to the 19 fish farms expected to shut down by the end of June.