The Liberal government will claim that it has engineered a compromise in the battle over open-net salmon farms by extending current operating licences on the West Coast for another five years, before forcing producers to bring their operations on land in contained tanks by the end of the decade.

The reality is that the decision, if confirmed, is a death sentence for an industry that employs thousands of people, sustains a number of impoverished First Nations communities and generates more than $1 billion in revenues as British Columbia’s largest agricultural export earner.