VANCOUVER—In an effort to protect wild Pacific salmon, the B.C. government will force several fish farms off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island to close down.

Ten farms in the Broughton Archipelago will be no more by the year 2022. Seven others will also close unless the companies reach agreements with local First Nations by 2023 allowing them to continue operating.

Premier John Horgan announced the move Friday morning in Victoria following almost a year of negotiations between the B.C. government and the ’Namgis First Nation, the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nations and the Mamalilikulla First Nation over the future of salmon farming in the Broughton area.

For decades, these nations have raised serious concerns about the threat farms pose to wild salmon, particularly along major migrations routes. The recommendation to create a “farm-free migration corridor” marks a significant milestone in their efforts to protect this iconic species.

“We are grateful that governments and industry are finally starting to listen and work with us to find solutions that aim to protect and restore wild salmon and other resources,” said Chief Robert Chamberlin, elected chief councillor of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation, in a statement Friday.

“There is much that still must be done, but these recommendations are a significant positive step in a better direction,” he said.

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Eco-justice lawyer Kegan Pepper-Smith said one of the “most important” measures will be the establishment of an Indigenous monitoring and inspection plan.

The industry has been widely criticized for not being transparent about parasite infestations and pathogen infections in hatcheries and on farms, he said.

“This Indigenous monitoring and inspection plan could really be a game-changer for the industry. It could hold them to account for the way they deal with disease,” he said.

“This is a sign for hope in otherwise dire times for the wild salmon.”

On Friday, the managing directors of both companies affected by the Broughton closures — Marine Harvest and Cermaq — said they were committed to working with First Nations and conducting their operations in a sustainable way.

David Kiemele, the managing director of Cermaq Canada, said “for Cermaq Canada this plan reflects our ongoing approach to doing business in the nations’ territories in which we operate.”

Diane Morrison, the managing director of Marine Harvest, had a similar message: “Reconciliation is important to all of us and to the future of the province. As a business here, we have an important role to play.”

“As our province changes, businesses must evolve, and that’s what we are doing,” she said.

British Columbia has been consistently ranked the world’s fourth-largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, and the fish is the province’s biggest agri-food export. In 2016, B.C. farmers harvested $757.5 million worth of it.

Despite the planned closures of some of its farms, Marine Harvest seems prepared to maintain production.

The company, which employs 600 people and raises 45,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon each year, said it will need to apply for amendments to a number of its operating permits to maintain overall production.

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While the closures affect just 17 of almost 120 fish farms licensed to operate in B.C. waters, the B.C. government announced in June that starting in 2022 land tenures would only be granted to salmon farms that have agreements with local First Nations and have proved their operations will not harm wild salmon.

The province’s role in regulating salmon farms is limited but significant. It has the responsibility to approve land tenures, giving aquaculture companies the right to anchor their farms to the sea floor.

Yet the key responsibility to manage the salmon farms falls to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which critics say has failed to adequately police the industry.

In April, Canada’s Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand concluded that the department has failed to adequately manage the threat ocean-based farms pose to B.C.’s iconic wild salmon through chemical contamination, disease and parasites.

Where rules do exist, Gelfand said, the department doesn’t do enough to enforce them.

A report released Thursday by the Independent Expert Panel of Aquaculture Science also raised concerns that it is difficult to evaluate how Fisheries and Oceans Canada used scientific evidence to make aquaculture management decisions. At the same time, the panel found that it is difficult to find out which scientific evidence was used to develop specific regulations.

Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Friday that “making our oceans and waters cleaner, safer and healthier is a priority for this federal government.”

To that end, he reiterated his government’s commitment to “chart a new path forward on aquaculture.”

As the federal government announced last week, that path will include a new Aquaculture Act, research into alternative technologies such as closed-containment farms and a new management approach that considers local environmental and social factors.

Environmental groups like Ecojustice and Watershed Watch will be monitoring the federal and provincial governments’ progress as they move to implement their recent aquaculture commitments.

“This is only the beginning,” said Stan Proboszcz, Watershed Watch Salmon Society’s science adviser, in a statement.

“Salmon farms in other areas like the Discovery Islands and the west coast of Vancouver Island are still a threat to B.C.’s wild fish. First Nations and citizens across B.C. have been clear that this dirty industry has no place in our shared waters.”

Correction — Dec. 14, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that stated the B.C. government is forcing several salmon farms off the west coast of Vancouver Island to close. In fact, the government is forcing several salmon farms off the east coast of Vancouver Island to close.