Canada to ban open-net pen salmon farming in British Columbia

Sockeye salmon in the Adams river of British Columbia. The government of Canada is to ban open-net pen salmon farming to protect wild populations. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy

Canada will ban open-net pen salmon farming in British Columbia coastal waters in five years, the government has announced, a decision that has been welcomed by environmental groups but opposed by the aquaculture industry.

The Liberal government made the decision in 2019 to transition to closed containment technologies to protect declining wild Pacific salmon populations.