A Supreme Court judge has rejected the use of violent threats against salmon farm workers' families.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Peter Voith last month ruled an injunction was warranted because protesters' actions interfered with a Vancouver salmon farm's operations, prevented the harvest and removal of salmon from the facility, and included threatening behaviour toward staff and their families. See news report here.
Deeply disturbing and violent threats from protesters, some of whom refused to reveal their identities to police, were revealed in detail in court documents.
The ruling came as good news to an industry that raised salmon with a wholesale value of $800 million in 2016, and supported 2,966 direct and 2,716 indirect jobs, according to the report prepared by accountants MNP LLP.
Atlantic salmon represents 90 per cent of the province’s total aquaculture production, according to the ministry of agriculture, and remains B.C.’s largest agricultural export at about $550 million a year.