Councillors asking to take stand and intervene against salmon farm

The Region of Queens Council is inching towards a position on the salmon farm expansion in Liverpool Bay.

Although no motions were made in Tuesday’s meeting, all councilors present made it clear they are not in favour of the expansion.

Some said they weren’t comfortable with what they have learned about salmon farms. Others outright called it an environmental disaster. Councilor Gil Johnson summed up what they were feeling.

“I think just sitting here and not doing something is as bad as not doing something to protect the people in the crosswalks downtown,” he said.

A motion to come out against the expansion was attempted, however because of the municipal rules of order it would have to wait until the next council meeting in April.

Complicating the issue is an old letter to the province on the books from 2015 by the previous council. In that letter, the Region of Queens states it is opposed to further development in the Port Mouton Bay, however it also states that the existing aquaculture farm in Liverpool Bay is suitable and expansion is welcome.

That motion will need to be rescinded before the any motion against the fish farm expansion is made.

The position by councillors comes after months of pressure by local advocate group Protect Liverpool Bay, which is opposed to the expansion. In most council meetings, the members have spoken publicly against the farm and urged council to stand with them.

The municipal council sent a letter to Cooke Aquaculture in January, highlighting questions on the expansion, but made no mention of a position. Protect Liverpool Bay members were asked to be a signatory of the letter as well, however refused because it was not officially opposing the expansion.

Council also asked municipal staff to present options on further action they could take.

One option is intervener status. The Region would ask to formally present evidence at the aquaculture review board that the aquaculture expansion should not go through.

However Chief Administrative Officer Chris MacNeil cautioned that it could be very costly to do so.

He said because the municipality does not have the in house scientific and legal knowledge on aquaculture farming, they would have to hire outside experts to gather and present evidence on their behalf. MacNeil, who has worked with review boards though not specifically the aquaculture review board, said interveners can spend upwards of $200,000 to collect the proper evidence.

“The only way we critique those applications is to provide fact based scientific evidence as to why we agree or disagree with certain assumptions,” said MacNeil. “That takes hiring technical people and scientists to critique that application.”

Councillor Brian Fralic said he was willing to spend the money to prevent possible ecological damage to the bay.