Trio of Seafood Companies and One First Nation File Legal Challenge Against Discovery Island Fish Farm Closure

A trio of seafood companies, and one First Nation, have filed a legal challenge against Ottawa’s plans to close fish farms in the Discovery Islands.

Last month, after years of back-and-forth, the DFO decided not to renew the licenses of the region’s 15 remaining open-pen net salmon farms.

Previous Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan had issued an initial order in 2020 which would have closed the farms by last June.

But the order was overturned in the courts after farm operators MOWI Canada West, Cermaq Canada, and Grieg Seafood filed a judicial review.

Now, the same group of companies have filed for a similar review of the February decision, alongside the We Wai Kai Nation.

When the last order was overturned, the courts ruled that the Minister had violated the company’s rights to procedural fairness, and failed to inform them of the order.