This article originally appeared in the Chronicle Herald.
By Ken Coates, June 13, 2025
Canada’s coastal fisheries are, in many respects, a mess.
It’s a pressing challenge and critical opportunity for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government.
Let’s set the scene.
The vital and profitable East Coast fisheries are plagued by conflict over First Nations treaty rights and conservation overreach.
In the West, the commercial fishery’s collapse and fisheries management disputes have weakened coastal communities.
Ottawa’s 2024 decision to ban the region’s marine net salmon farming exacerbated problems. On both coasts, industry hostility towards the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is at near-fever pitch.
In the recent election, Carney encountered protests by fishers outside a Newfoundland campaign rally. Despite that, fisheries garnered little national media coverage during the campaign. Coastal issues do not resonate in major cities. But the industry could well provide an early and consequential test of the new Liberal government.
East Coast and West Coast issues differ significantly. The Maritime industry — which is robust though haunted by the 1992 cod moratorium — is trapped in a bitter struggle with DFO. The department appears to prioritize two key objectives: conservation and protecting Indigenous treaty rights.
More than a quarter of a century after the Supreme Court’s landmark Marshall decision — which recognized First Nations treaty rights to commercial fishing — questions about Indigenous fishery access remain contentious. First Nations demand greater control. They wish to manage the industry nation to nation, and the law is on their side
Non-Indigenous fishers feel marginalized and ignored. They struggle to get political attention and are angered by Ottawa’s bureaucratic micromanagement, and they struggle to advance their primary issues: protection of independent operators, access for young fishers and small coastal community sustainability. Commercial returns are strong, but fishers feel threatened by DFO’s prioritization of conservation over their society and industry’s viability.
On the West Coast, debate is dominated by well-funded environmental non-governmental organizations. These determined, passionate and highly effective lobby groups have politicized fish harvesting and management. The gap between resource-dependent coastal communities and environmentally activist cities is replicated in the province-wide political gap between the producing economy and consumption sector.
The West Coast’s circumstance is complicated by the economic heft of profitable salmon farming, an industry subjected to intense attacks from environmental groups. Science does not support claims that these farms harm wild salmon or have contributed to their population’s rapid decline. But this did not stop activists from convincing then-Liberal minister Jonathan Wilkinson to back a comprehensive technology ban on the industry, set for 2029.
West Coast First Nations are divided. Some support the ban, while others argue that it will undermine community economic development without addressing environmental concerns.
On both coasts, DFO is the primary lightning rod, though industry leaders are optimistic about Newfoundland and Labrador MP Joanne Thompson’s reappointment as fisheries minister.
There’s no easy fix to decades-old problems, but there are several steps Carney’s new government can take to show a more creative and economically sustainable approach to resolve rapidly escalating conflicts.
First, DFO must be examined in order to establish new approaches and structures. At present, DFO acts like a second environment ministry, rather than the foundational government agency for an industry that sustains several hundred threatened and vulnerable communities. The gap between coastal communities, politicians and Ottawa-based civil servants is widening by the day, with a severe loss of local confidence already evident. A prompt and serious review could address long-festering issues.
A new approach should be co-developed with First Nations and industry. The Marshall decision must be honoured — the Supreme Court established First Nations treaty rights as second in the legal hierarchy only to conservation — but more innovative approaches are needed.
The federal government has placed the entire financial responsibility for respecting 18th-century treaties on a single industry, primarily because Ottawa has constitutional control over the Maritime fishing sector. A broader and more comprehensive approach — which honours treaties and is acceptable to First Nations — is urgently required.
The British Columbia salmon farming ban needs to be promptly rethought before investment and commercial commitments dry up. The decision to effectively kill the industry was made without serious scientific input, including that of DFO scientists, and largely in response to pressure from NGO activists. An independent international review of salmon farming science is urgently needed.
First Nations’ input must be taken seriously, respecting their right to say either yes or no. Salmon farms cannot be imposed on unreceptive communities; nor should one First Nation’s decision be imposed on others, provided objective research shows no significant threat to wild salmon.
Furthermore, fish farming should be transferred to the Department of Agriculture, where it properly belongs, so it can receive support as an important, viable export sector.
A change in government, even with the same party in power, presents a short-term opportunity to reassess past approaches and consider innovative alternatives.
The authority and credibility of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is in doubt. Tensions on the water continue to escalate.
The fishery provides a critical opportunity to determine if the Carney government represents a real shift from the Trudeau regime’s environmental activism to the economy-building and collaborative approach promised by the new prime minister.
Ken Coates is a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa
