Walker Hook is the Latest Casualty
of the Fish Farming Industry

Walker Hook is now part of the fish farm industry. The residents of Salt Spring Island developed their Official Community Plan (OCP) with an explicit mandate to protect Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) such as Walker Hook and prohibit large-scale development from eroding the rural character of the island. To this end, the OCP contains specific bylaws to protect our shorelines from potentially harmful developments (see relevant sections of OCP here).

Sablefin Hatcheries, Ltd. is a venture capital corporation and its industrial operation on Salt Spring Island directly contravenes the intent of our OCP. Although the hatchery is land-based, the black cod (sablefish) fingerlings raised at the hatchery are being transferred to open-net pens in other locations on the BC coast. One such area is the Broughton Archipelago.

Despite numerous international, peer-reviewed, and other scientific studies demonstrating that problems associated with farmed fish are decimating wild stocks, and amid large scale community objection, our government has allowed Sablefin Hatcheries, Ltd. to move forward with their industrial operation, making Walker Hook, Syuhe'mun, a part of its pro-aquaculture agenda.