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It's one in a series of legal defeats for the Canadian Sablefish Association, a fishermen's group concerned that farming for black cod, also known as sablefish, will cause environmental harm and crush the multi-million-dollar commercial black cod fisheries in Canada and the United States.

An Ottawa federal judge's decision allows Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd., on Saltspring Island, to sell about 30,000 juvenile black cod to Canadian fish farmers this year.

The recent growth of black cod aquaculture in Canada, supported by provincial and federal regulators, has caught the attention of Alaska fishermen and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. More than 40 permits have been granted in British Columbia that will allow farmers to raise black cod in off-shore net pens.

"Not unlike the salmon farm industry, we anticipate concerns involving disease and escape from pens and the potential impacts these elements can have on Alaskan wild stocks," said Sarah Gilbertson, special assistant to the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. "As those concerns arose, we will definitely express those to our Canadian counterparts and work with them to make certain they are using the best practices and technology."

Sablefin Hatcheries' Gidon Minkoff said that the claim that fish farms are causing environmental harm is "total rubbish and has no validity," he said.

But Wickham, of the sablefish association, says there are solid legal reasons to delay the production of farm-raised black cod until additional scientific study is completed. First, he said, the Canadian government violated its own rules by not conducting an environmental study and second, Sablefin Hatcheries' temporary permit allows it to dump treated wastewater into a Native American sacred site.

However Wickham said he doesn't know if the fishermen's association has enough money to sue.

The Alaska Longline Fisherman's Association will begin looking at ways to pitch in to help the Canadian fishermen, said director Linda Behnken in Sitka. "Up to now we've stayed out of the legal battle. ... Maybe at this point we are going to have to jump in to help them financially."

Behnken said that if legal efforts do not work, the next step would be to "educate consumers about the health and environmental issues" related to farmed fish.