DFO not in conflict of interest for promoting, safeguarding fishery: LeBlanc
VANCOUVER — Canada’s fisheries minister is dismissing concerns from stakeholder groups over suggestions the government agency tasked with conserving wild fish stocks is in a conflict of interest by also being in charge of championing the salmon-farming industry.
Removing industry advocacy from the purview of Fisheries and Oceans Canada was one of the key recommendations from a 2012 report by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen into the 2009 collapse of sockeye salmon in British Columbia’s Fraser River.
The public mandate letter from the prime minister to the minister of fisheries and oceans, a portfolio Dominic LeBlanc took over in June, directed him to “act on recommendations of the Cohen commission on restoring sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River.”
However, LeBlanc said the ministry’s mandate to preserve fisheries is fundamental to its responsibility to promote a viable, long-term salmon-farming industry.