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Escape Prevention in British Columbia

Regulating Escapes

The provincial Aquaculture Regulations were established under the authority of the provincial Fisheries Act. The first version of these regulations was introduced in 1989.  Since then, changes were made in October, 2000, setting the world’s first regulatory requirements for aquaculture escape prevention. In 2002, additional amendments were made to increase regulatory efficiency by ensuring that escape-prevention efforts and resources are directed at higher-risk activities.

Today’s Aquaculture Regulations constitute the most comprehensive escape prevention standards in the world. Standards have been set to govern the following aspects of a farm operation

  • design, installation, maintenance, and anchoring of cage structures
  • strength of containment netting
  • net inspections and record keeping
  • boat operations
  • preparing and adhering to a Best Management Practices plan
  • predator avoidance
  • escape response

Commitment to improvement

The regulations have inherent flexibility that allows farmers to continue to develop innovative approaches and pursue continued improvement of escape prevention practices and technology. For example, under the regulations, farmers are required to carry our underwater net-cage inspections. The flexibility within the regulation permits the use of divers, underwater cameras, mechanical net rotation systems or other government-approved methods to meet this requirement.

The substantive changes introduced in the 2002 amendments include:

  • new powers allowing provincial aquaculture inspectors to have suspect net cages removed from the water;
  • streamlined record-keeping requirements for farms;
  • increased flexibility around diving requirements that link dive inspections more closely to higher-risk activities or events such as severe storms;
  • requirements for farms to develop best management practices plans to guide farm activities that have led to escapes in the past;
  • establishment of net-strength standards that are consistent with other jurisdictions;
  • a mandatory net-strength testing protocol, making net-strength requirements more enforceable; and
  • increased emphasis on staff training, based on research that suggests human error is a leading cause of escapes.