Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio is wading into the debate over B.C.’s fish farms.
The Canadian government is considering extending the licences of salmon farms for two to six years to give the industry more time to transition.
It’s also considering changes to the conditions of the licences including reducing sea lice and improving record-keeping.
DiCaprio posted on Instagram that would “break their promise to phase out open-net pen salmon farms by 2025.”
He said people should join the fight against the extension.
There are currently 57 salmon farms operating in B.C. In February 2023, the DFO closed 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms in the Discovery Islands.
Environmentalists oppose the farms, saying they threaten wild salmon, while the farms are supported by First Nations communities they operate in.
The B.C. salmon farming industry disputes any connection between aquaculture and the challenges wild salmon are facing.
“That is patently incorrect. We have the amazing amount of science that shows we are not a risk to wild Pacific salmon, we are continually innovating, we have stepped up to the plate to say we will continue to innovate,” Brian Kingzett, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers’ Association told Global News last September.
“Some of the highest returns of salmon during the last three decades have been during the period that we have been salmon farming, but we are continually used as a convenient scapegoat.”
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