For more than 125 years, the salmon fishery linked the Coast of British Columbia from Fort Langley, a few miles up the Fraser River, to Gingolx (Kincolith) at the mouth of the Nass River.
Throughout that history, the fishery has faced the Babine and Hell’s Gate rockslides, which were overcome only to be followed by many decades of fleet reductions in an effort to manage overfishing and smooth the natural ups and downs of annual salmon returns from the ocean.
Yet here we are today, with fleets and returns a shadow of their former selves.
In the 1990s, salmon farming strengthened the industry, bringing new jobs to the coast. Since its peak about 10 years ago, it has been in decline and has no obvious path to growth.
It is time for B.C. to accept that its salmon industry is made up of two economically and socially vital parts.
Wild salmon
Wild salmon stocks are facing far greater challenges today than ever. Salmon populations are in rapid decline. The current efforts could work if nature cooperates—but the management framework in play may not deliver for the fishing fleet.
The sockeye fleet has undergone decades of changes in management strategies and tactics, and attempts to curtail overfishing by dramatically reducing the fleet have been unsuccessful.
The big change, years ago, was switching from a river-based management system to one focused on grading specific salmon populations and developing individual management plans for each, particularly those declared at high risk. The plan could include habitat restoration, spawning channels, and reducing harvest levels, or temporary full closures of sockeye fishing.
The review of the 1999 Salmon Allocation Policy is nearing completion and could significantly reshape how salmon are allocated among user groups, as new First Nations fishing rights recognized after 1999 are brought into the policy.
The British Columbia Fisheries Fund, announced less than a month ago, will direct $106.5 million toward sophisticated salmon enhancement—water-cooling systems, genomic studies and habitat restoration. It is hoped these measures will be successful against warming water.
BCFF complements Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and province’s commitments to upriver First Nations.
It is hard to see success ahead without further cutting the fleet, imposing more restrictive fishing methods or adding more closures over the next two or three cycles.
Farmed salmon
In British Columbia, salmon farmers face the same challenges of warming waters and regulatory malaise.
There have been good improvements in reducing escapes, sea lice, and disease transmission, yet the DFO is maintaining its order that all open-net-pen salmon farms in B.C. be removed from the ocean.
There is a transition plan that, up to now, is incomplete but requires all salmon farms after 2029 to be on land, use recycled water, or be completely self-contained in the ocean. Either method will cost billions of dollars in new capital.
The industry’s resistance to making those investments now, even with less than three years before the ban comes into effect, was well reported on by Daisy Xiong in the June 4, 2026, edition of Business in Vancouver.
The article explains that Tony Pantages, president and CEO of Octaform Systems Inc., a Vancouver-based supplier of land-based salmon farm equipment, and Brian Kingzett, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, both agree: companies involved in both spaces have grown extremely reluctant to invest in innovation because of the long-promised but not yet delivered transition plan.
The uncertainty cuts deeper for the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship, which represents the First Nations who are partners in 100 per cent of B.C.’s salmon farms and continues to campaign for a First Nations-led transition plan. They back their plan with accounts of what continued salmon farming means for them in terms of reconciliation and community benefits.
One industry—Two sectors
The salmon industry comprises two sectors. The success of both is required along the entire coast. The province and the country need both sectors, as together they provide cultural value, jobs, support for coastal communities, food security, revenue and exports, while contributing to reconciliation.
2018 was the best sockeye year in recent times and before the Discovery Island farms were shut down. That year, the combined landed value of farmed and wild-caught salmon was $870,677,000; by 2024, it had dropped to $545,371,000.
Food security is undermined, as is Canada’s reputation as a reliable salmon supplier, but we imported $1,026,132,000 worth of salmon products in 2025, of all types. Canada should seek to regain its position as a reliable exporter of top-quality salmon products as part of our sovereignty project.
Path back to the 2018 numbers
As in many resource sectors, Norway leads the way. It has built a path that drives collaboration among researchers, technology developers and industry.
Norway has the political courage and understanding of the importance of a prosperous economy in balance with the environment. Canada has yet to take up that challenge, honestly and seriously. It is time we made that decision.
Canada needs to go all in on rebuilding wild salmon runs and increasing the harvest, while clearing a path to get farmed salmon back to its potential. Let’s aim for the 2018 numbers as a minimum and go on from there. This is what the B.C. Coast needs and deserves.
With decades of policy failing to do its intended job in forestry and salmon fisheries, it feels like working people on the coast are not being heard.
Let us change that.
Jim Rushton is a 46-year veteran of BC’s resource and transportation sectors, with experience in union representation, economic development, and terminal management. Reach him at [email protected].
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