The provincial government has continued to grant licenses of occupations for all farms, and companies have continued to pay fees and taxes, as well as meet all conditions of operating. Tenures are in the renewal process, pending consultation, according to correspondence with the province. They were applied for in a timely way and are in stream.
"Our farmers are operating legally on the tenures as they await the completion of the complicated renewal process through the province," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. "We agree that this should be completed as soon as possible, and feel it would provide all stakeholders greater security about our farm operations."
Licenses of occupation, which the farms are operating under now, include bridging programmes between the license and the tenure renewal process - making the space still legally occupied.
BC's salmon farming industry is the most highly-regulated food-production industry in the province, with extensive standards for environmental protection, fish health maintenance and monitoring and reporting. Farmers are eager to see more secure tenure processes in the future, so that their efforts can be bolstered by consistency in regulation.
"In the meantime, our companies continue to meet and exceed the high environmental standards that have been set - and as proud coastal residents, will continue to do so to ensure the sustainability of our wild environment and farm operations," said Ms Walling.
BC Salmon Farmers Operating In Full Compliance
CANADA - British Columbia's (BC) salmon farmers are operating in full compliance to all operating license conditions as they await the renewal of tenures for some of their farms in BC, says the local Salmon Farmers' Association.
