The Skeena
PORT ALBERNI — The Hupačasath First Nation has served an eviction notice on salmon farming company Cermaq. The notice orders the company to close its freshwater Boot Lagoon hatchery near Port Alberni and escalates the fight over open-net pen aquaculture on Vancouver Island’s west coast.
The notice was first reported by The Tyee and served Wednesday, September 23. It targets a hatchery that supplies 14 Cermaq open-net pen fish farms in Clayoquot Sound.
Hereditary Chief Alton Watts told the Norway-based company to stop moving Atlantic salmon smolts out of the facility immediately and to shut it down by the end of this year. In a release shared with The Tyee, Watts said Cermaq lacks consent to rear “invasive fish that threaten wild salmon stocks in our territory.”
Watts said the wild salmon he catches in the Somass River system show signs of the diseases that affect farmed fish. He described fish with missing skin, parasites or sea lice beneath the skin, and sores on their mouths. He said the fish feed near Clayoquot Sound farms before migrating up the Somass. He said Cermaq never asked the nation for permission to operate the hatchery. He said he hopes the company will call, apologize, and leave.
The hatchery’s location adds to the nation’s concern. The facility sits beside Great Central Lake, which drains into the Stamp River, a tributary of the Somass, and supports one of the last healthy salmon runs in Nuu-chah-nulth territories. The Hupačasath co-manage a chinook hatchery nearby, and Watts warned that escaped Atlantic salmon or leaked contaminants would directly harm wild stocks. Boot Lagoon is one of four freshwater facilities Cermaq operates on Vancouver Island.
Cermaq Canada did not respond to The Tyee before publication. The BC Salmon Farmers Association said it was unaware of the notice and could not comment. Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the land and water lot rules governing the hatchery fall outside its jurisdiction. The provincial ministry that issues hatchery tenures declined to answer questions, citing election-period communication limits.
The eviction comes amid growing uncertainty over Ottawa’s commitment to end open-net pen farming in BC. The federal government announced a ban starting in 2029, which requires companies to move to closed-containment or land-based systems. Seven international aquaculture companies have since lobbied the Carney government to rescind it.
Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson spoke in Victoria on Aug. 20. She said the ban was “certainly still in place,” and said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has taken over the file. BC Salmon Farmers Association president Brian Kingzett has said farms should be hatching fish now for harvest in 2029 and beyond, and that the industry is at a go/no-go point. Sixty-one farms remain active in BC, down from more than 100 before the ban was announced.
Watts said Ottawa has so far failed to advance the transition. He asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to respect the nation’s right to enforce its own salmon laws.
Conservationists backed the move. Dan Lewis, executive director of Clayoquot Action, pointed to a 2026 study that found 45 percent of Clayoquot Sound’s original 1934 salmon stock is now genetically extinct, and noted that Kennedy River chinook have been declared extirpated. He said his group stands with Watts in asserting title to protect salmon. BC-based Creative Salmon also operates seven Chinook farms in Clayoquot Sound.
