When the Farms Go, the Salmon Come Back:

Commentary by Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ

Lessons from British Columbia for New Zealand**

In British Columbia, Canada, something remarkable is happening. In places where open-net pen salmon farms have been removed from key migration routes, many wild salmon runs are beginning to rebound.

At the same time, the salmon-farming industry is lobbying furiously to reverse a federal ban on open-net pens, claiming that farms have little impact on wild fish and that their closure will cost jobs and food security. The battle lines between industrial aquaculture and wild salmon are now very clear.

For New Zealand anglers who care about wild salmon, trout and healthy coastal ecosystems, the British Columbia story offers an important case study – and a warning.

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What the National Fisherman Article Reports

The National Fisherman article “Removal of BC salmon farms coincides with rebounding wild runs” describes how several Canadian wild salmon runs have improved where open-net pen farms have been cleared from migration corridors, particularly around the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago.

Key points:

• Canada has passed a ban on open-net pen salmon farming, due to take full effect in 2029, though large aquaculture companies are lobbying to overturn it.
• Fisheries scientist-turned-activist Alexandra Morton has gathered extensive field evidence showing that wild salmon runs rebound when farms are removed.
• Fraser River sockeye returns in 2025 were more than twice the predicted level after farms were removed from a major chokepoint in the Discovery Islands.
• First Nations such as the Namgis forced the removal of farms after being allowed access to sites to gather their own data on disease, sea lice and impacts on wild runs. These observations contradicted industry assurances of safety.
• Namgis hereditary chief Don Svanvik states: “I believe 100 percent that salmon farms kill salmon. When you take out over 40 farms and the salmon come back…”
• Long-time fisher Jody Eriksson reports smolts near farms “covered in up to 200 lice per fish.” Since farm removals, smolts are healthier and staying inshore longer instead of “disappearing.”
• Emerging genomic tools developed by Canadian scientist Kristi Miller now allow researchers to detect immune responses in wild salmon exposed to farm-origin pathogens.

The combined field observations, First Nations monitoring, and genomic evidence all point to the same pattern: fewer farms on migration routes = better wild salmon survival.

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The Industry’s Counter-Narrative – and Why It Fails

The salmon-farming industry insists that farms are not a major problem, pointing to selective studies and arguing that sea lice and pathogens occur naturally. But several issues undermine these claims:

• Farms don’t need to be the only problem – they simply need to be a major additional stressor on vulnerable wild stocks.
• Disease amplification in dense farm pens is well documented globally.
• Sea lice may occur naturally, but farms act as multipliers, vastly increasing parasite loads.
• The lived experience of fishers and Indigenous communities consistently links declining wild runs with farm expansion — and improvements with farm removal.
• Canadian courts have upheld the minister’s precautionary authority to remove farms to protect wild fish.

For organisations like NZFFA, which prioritise wild fish above corporate interests, this counter-narrative is not convincing.

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The Benefits of Salmon Farm Closures (Seen in BC)

1. Rebounding Wild Runs

Where farms have been removed, wild salmon show higher survival and improved returns. Fraser River sockeye runs are one clear example.

2. Reduced Disease and Parasite Pressure

Open-net farms amplify pathogens and sea lice. Removing them reduces the infection reservoir that juvenile salmon must swim through.

3. Healthier Inshore Ecosystems

Farm discharges — waste feed, faeces, antibiotics and chemicals — degrade local seabeds. When farms are removed, benthic habitats recover and biodiversity returns.

4. Restoring Community Fisheries

Wild salmon once supported entire coastal communities. As wild runs collapsed, commercial fishers disappeared and were replaced by a smaller number of farm jobs. Rebounding wild runs allow a return to self-reliance, cultural harvesting, and broader employment.

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Why This Matters for New Zealand

New Zealand’s salmon industry is smaller, but the issues are familiar:

• Benthic degradation beneath farms in the Marlborough Sounds.
• Mass mortality events, especially during warm summers.
• Waste discharge and nutrient loading.
• Pressure to expand farms into new areas.

New Zealand King Salmon has already suffered catastrophic die-offs, with over 1,200 tonnes of dead fish in one summer. Independent reports show degraded seabeds, depleted oxygen levels, and reduced biodiversity under several sites.

All of this affects coastal ecosystems that trout and salmon smolts interact with as they move between freshwater and marine environments.

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A Precautionary NZ Approach

BC shows what happens when farm expansion is allowed to outrun science, monitoring, and ecological caution: decades of conflict and damage, followed by rushed closures only after significant harm is done.

New Zealand has a choice to act before reaching that point.

A precautionary approach would include:

• Limiting or phasing out open-net salmon farms that impact sensitive coastal areas.
• Protecting wild salmonid migration routes.
• Prioritising alternatives such as land-based or closed-containment systems.
• Ensuring that wild fish, public waterways, and long-term ecosystem health come before corporate interests.

For NZFFA, the benefits are clear: improved marine–freshwater connectivity, reduced disease and waste impacts, and stronger support for wild fisheries.

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Conclusion: A Simple Lesson from BC

In the words of BC fishers and First Nations leaders:

When farms are taken off migration routes, wild salmon get a fighting chance.

New Zealand should not wait for its own crisis before acting. The BC experience offers a clear blueprint: where industrial salmon farms are removed, wild fish recover. For a country that values trout and salmon, healthy rivers, and vibrant coastal ecosystems, the path forward is obvious.

New Zealand must decide whether it supports wild fish in public waters, or corporate feedlots in our seas.
BC has shown what happens when we choose the former.