Correction: An earlier version of this article cited the wrong report. The correct report is British Columbia Salmon Aquaculture Land-Based Siting and Alternative Technology Assessment, prepared by Blue Economy Consulting Group for the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
B.C. study casts doubt on feasibility of land-based salmon farming shift.
A newly released government-commissioned report has cast significant doubt on the practicality of transitioning British Columbia’s open-net pen salmon farms to land-based systems, citing high costs, limited suitable sites, and complex environmental trade-offs.
The report, British Columbia Salmon Aquaculture Land-Based Siting and Alternative Technology Assessment, was prepared by the Blue Economy Consulting Group for the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). It provides the first province-wide analysis of physical, technical, and regulatory constraints associated with locating full grow-out land-based Atlantic salmon farms in B.C.
The study screened approximately 100,000 possible sites across the province. While 144 locations passed the initial filters, only six sites met the combined technical, regulatory, and environmental criteria required for viable development. None of those were located near existing aquaculture hubs.
“To match the current net-pen production in British Columbia, more than 200 hectares of land with access to nearly 25 cubic metres per second of intake water and 12 cubic metres per second of discharge would be required — a level the authors describe as ‘extremely challenging to achieve in practice,’” the report notes.
Additional constraints include limited access to freshwater or marine intake sources, high energy requirements, permitting barriers, Indigenous consultation obligations, and competition for coastal land use.
The report’s findings come amid pressure on the federal government to advance its plan to phase out open-net pens in coastal waters. However, the analysis highlights that even alternative systems such as hybrid flow-through or recirculating aquaculture (RAS) models remain expensive and largely unproven at commercial scale for full grow-out operations in B.C.
In one scenario outlined in the report, capital expenditure to replace current production with land-based RAS would exceed CAD 1.8 billion (USD 1.3 billion), depending on site-specific infrastructure requirements.
The report also raises concerns over environmental trade-offs, including significantly higher energy usage and carbon emissions, compared to existing marine farms. It concludes that any shift in policy should account for these “multi-dimensional” considerations.
The DFO said the study will inform its transition plan, expected later in 2025. Industry groups have previously warned that a poorly executed transition risks driving investment and jobs out of British Columbia.
Read the full report HERE.