Two Bluenose deckhands meet. Kate Smith of Sydney, N.S., is currently part of the Bluenose II crew. Craig Harding of Liverpool was a deckhand on the ship in the 1960s. (Rick Conrad)

The Brooklyn Marina rolled out the red carpet for Nova Scotia’s sailing ambassador on Tuesday evening.

A few dozen people turned out to meet the crew of Bluenose II at the small clubhouse as it visited the Liverpool area in its first stop on a tour of southwestern Nova Scotia. 

Others drove down the small wharf in Brooklyn or towards the breakwater to get a look across Liverpool Bay to where the schooner was anchored near Port Mersey Commercial Park.

Volunteers at the marina had food and drinks ready for the crew and fans of the Bluenose.

Capt. Phil Watson was one of the dozen or so crewmembers who shuttled from the sailing icon to the marina.

“We haven’t been here in a long time and we were developing a a cruise along Southwest Nova and so Liverpool it is. There’s great alumni support here and community support and the club has always been good to us so it’s pretty easy to put Liverpool on the list.. … It’s good to come back to this side of the province again.”

The tour of southwestern Nova Scotia was hatched after the Bluenose crew cancelled an early September trip to Gloucester, Mass. Instead, they said they’d do what so many other Canadians are doing this year, stay closer to home and support local tourism.

Kate Smith, a deckhand from Sydney, N.S., is spending her third summer on the Bluenose. It was her first visit to Liverpool.

“I love it. It’s great. People are sweet. It’s super awesome,” she said of the Liverpool welcome. “We really like going around this area and we figured we’d go on a little staycation basically around the south coast.”

Liverpool’s Craig Harding sailed on the schooner as a 20-year-old from 1968 to 1969.

“I’d been on fishing boats on draggers and so on but I’d never been on a sailboat until that year and I learned to sail on it,” he said. “I’ve been connected to the Bluenose ever since. Hard not to be. Really, really happy to see the support. It was beautiful to see her come in.”

The last time the Bluenose II was in Liverpool was in 2021 when the ship celebrated 100 years of Bluenose history. 

Jamie Frankel of Massachusetts just happened to be at the marina when he heard about the Bluenose’s visit. He and some others arrived on his boat The Sea Quester a couple of days before to wait for a weather window to continue their journey through the Gulf of Maine.

“None of us knew she was going to be coming at the time, so this is an incredibly welcome surprise. … As the sailing ambassador for Nova Scotia I think everyone loves her but in addition, she has beautiful lines as a ship and as a tall ship of that size I’d say that it’s always a wonderful event to be someplace where she comes in and it’s the splendor of old sailing ships and old-style sailing ships.”

Capt. Watson says the Bluenose always draws a crowd. 

“It’s bringing a fishing schooner back to a fishing community. You know all these communities have shipbuilding, fishing heritage and these schooners, whether it was a fishing schooner or a cargo schooner, they all have that history there, so to be able to put a thing in place in the harbour where you can then talk about it and you can talk about, ‘oh those schooners used to be here all the time’ or ‘they used to build them over there’, it’s a chance for the community to talk about the history of their communities and share it with them themselves and hopefully they’ll come and share it with us as well.”

The Bluenose II left Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon, sailing around Port Mouton to its next stops in Clarks Harbour, Yarmouth, Digby and Lower West Pubnico.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad file photo)

Supporters and opponents of a fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay will get a chance to make their case in front of Nova Scotia’s aquaculture regulator after all.

The province’s aquaculture review board will hear an application in October from Kelly Cove Salmon to expand its current operation at Coffin Island, just off Beach Meadows Beach in Queens County.

Kelly Cove Salmon is owned by seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture. It applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. 

All three applications would have increased Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14 and include trout as well as salmon. It would have meant up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in Liverpool Bay, compared to about 400,000 now.

The board had scheduled hearings for those proposals for March 2024. But it indefinitely adjourned the matter that month with no explanation.

According to groups involved in the hearing, Cooke applied to the board this June for a hearing on only the Coffin Island expansion.

The review board held a conference call with Kelly Cove and some intervenors last week. Hearing dates were set for Oct. 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Liverpool. 

Originally, the board had set aside only two days. But after lawyers for community group Protect Liverpool Bay objected, the board added two more hearing dates. The group is represented by environmental law charity Ecojustice.

“So there was no consultation at all in picking the dates,” said Brian Muldoon, spokesman for the group which has been fighting fish farms in the area since 2018.

“So our lawyers wrote to the ARB and said this is not reasonable and the ARB added two more dates.”

A board spokesman would not confirm the dates or comment on any upcoming hearings. He said any new information on hearings in Liverpool would be posted online.

A few days after this story was posted, the review board updated its website with the hearing notice.

The Region of Queens was one of the intervenors in the original hearings. Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR this week that the municipality still opposes the expansion at Coffin Island.

“We’re staying the course,” he said. 

“Beach Meadows Beach is the beach where we have municipal amenities. That’s where we have our infrastructure, and we want to make sure that that beach continues to be a really attractive and great place for locals and for visitors to use, and so that’s certainly one element of the opposition to the expansion at that site. ”

Muldoon said he’s worried about the hearings in October. 

“I believe they are not listening to the people or residents of Queens County. They’re moving forward with their agenda. They are going to put these fish farms over the areas where our local lobster fishermen lay their spring traps. This is taking income and disrupting our lobster industry. Right there, they should say, OK, we’re dismissing this application based on the data that we received that this is where lobster fishermen have been fishing for decades. And they’re going to turn around and ignore this information? It’s absurd, totally absurd.

“I have no confidence in the board listening to us.”

In the leadup to the originally scheduled hearings, more than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Most opposed the expansion and the new farms.

Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation. 

Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law in Halifax represents the lobster fishermen.

He said his clients are still concerned about how the expansion will affect their fishing grounds and how new pens will affect their ability to set and reach their traps.

“Ever since the original hearing was postponed without a date, I think everyone was hopeful that maybe the entire application would be withdrawn but that’s not the case so we’ll deal with the revised application.”

Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, said he didn’t have time for an interview. But in an emailed statement, he wrote that the company “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the aquaculture review board to seek approval of our applications which have been in the provincial system for many years.

“At every step of the way, Kelly Cove has complied with the application process. At the aquaculture review board hearings our representatives will present how the company meets all the regulatory criteria.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024 that he personally opposed new fish farms in Liverpool Bay, though he said he supports the aquaculture industry. 

It was shortly after that that the board postponed and then indefinitely adjourned the hearings.

The Nova Scotia government appointed a new board chair, and some other new members, in February 2024. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)

It’s been a little over a month since Nova Scotia’s aquaculture review board indefinitely adjourned hearings into a fish farm application in Liverpool Bay.

And there’s still no indication if the hearings will ever begin.

Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors in the hearing, a group of lobster fishermen. He said Thursday he hasn’t heard a word.

“The parties haven’t been informed of any updates, any new dates, or any attempts to schedule anything,” Simpson said in an interview.

“It’s just kind of radio silence at the moment. And I guess we’re just kind of sitting tight waiting to see what might happen.”

Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. If successful, that would increase Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14, and include trout as well as salmon. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.

More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.

The hearings had been scheduled to begin in Liverpool on March 4. At a business luncheon in Liverpool on Feb. 7, Premier Tim Houston said he was personally opposed to the expansion, but that he respects the independence of the review board.

On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a “high priority” email from the board, telling them those hearings were cancelled. Lawyers were told that April hearing dates were still a go.

Then on March 6, the board posted a notice on its website that “all sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice.”

The board did not give a reason. And it’s still just as tight-lipped today as it was then.

In an email on Thursday, board clerk Stacy Bruce repeated what he told QCCR in March, that there is no new information about the hearing. And he said when new information is available, it will be posted to the website.

Bruce also turned down a request from QCCR to interview board chairman Tim Cranston. He said board members are not available for public comment on their work.

The delays occurred when lawyers involved in the hearing were told in mid-February that then-chairwoman Jean McKenna was no longer on the board. 

They were surprised because McKenna had been involved in preparing for the hearings, even though her one-year term was set to expire anyway on Feb. 15. That is confirmed in a ministerial order signed by then-Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig on Feb. 17, 2023.

Part of the ministerial order from Feb. 17, 2023, reappointing Jean McKenna as chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board for one year.

A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture declined comment Thursday on the delays.

And Kent Smith, Nova Scotia’s fisheries and aquaculture minister, also would not comment Thursday. A spokeswoman said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment while the matter is still before the board.

Lawyer Jamie Simpson said that regulatory boards generally try to address issues in a timely manner. 

“I would presume that the most affected is Cooke, Kelly Cove Salmon,” Simpson said. “They are the ones that brought the application forward and they are the ones that are interested in getting this moving. In terms of the lobster fishers of Liverpool Bay, they would rather not see the aquaculture site go in of course because of the potential impacts on lobster stocks and impact to fishing in that area.”

Simpson said that his clients will wait and see what happens with the hearings. He said it would be nice to have the issue resolved, but that it’s up to the board to make that happen.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audo version below

A map showing where Kelly Cove Salmon proposes two new fish farm sites (in yellow) and where it plans to expand its existing operation (in green). (Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board)

It’s anyone’s guess as to when or if the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board will hold hearings into a proposal to expand fish farming in Liverpool Bay.

The board posted a notice on its website on March 6, saying that hearing dates scheduled for April 2 to 5 were cancelled. They gave no reason, and no new dates are on the horizon.

Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. If successful, that would increase Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14, and include trout as well as salmon. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.

Groups involved in the hearing are as much in the dark as everybody else.

Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the five intervenors, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay.

He said Monday that he received an email from the board telling him the April dates were cancelled. They also made no attempt to set new dates, he said. Since then, he hasn’t heard a thing.

“I would have thought that we would have heard some sort of a followup plan for the path forward here, but it’s just been silent so far.

“I mean I don’t know what to think. I’ve never seen it before basically. … It’s been radio silence since we got that letter.”

The hearings have been on hold since chairwoman Jean McKenna left the board on Feb. 20. Her departure surprised groups involved in the hearing, although the Nova Scotia government said her term had simply expired. 

The board cancelled March hearing dates and said that the April hearings would still go ahead.

The Tory government appointed board member and former Tory candidate Tim Cranston to take McKenna’s place as chairman. Cranston has been a member of the ARB since 2023. He ran unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in the last provincial election.

Premier Tim Houston came out against the proposed expansion in early February, but said that he supports aquaculture and respects the independence of the review board.

More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.

Representatives with the review board have not commented on the cancellations or when there might be new hearings scheduled. They have said that any new information will be posted on their website.

Jamie Simpson said Monday that all he and his clients can do is wait.

“I don’t know what the forces are that are moving this, but all we can do is sit back, it’s highly unusual,” he said. 

“It seems like anything’s possible at this point. I assume that Kelly Cove Salmon wants to go ahead with their application. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary in that regard. So assuming that Kelly Cove doesn’t pull out, we’ll be going ahead at some point. And that’s about all I can say.”

A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture could not be reached on Monday.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Damien Barry was appointed to the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board on Feb. 8. (Louisbourg Seafoods photo)

Nova Scotia’s minister of fisheries and aquaculture has appointed a new member to the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board.

Damien Barry, a lawyer in Sydney and CAO and general counsel for Louisbourg Seafoods, was appointed Feb. 8, according to the government’s website listing members of agencies, boards and commissions.

Barry is originally from Ennis, Ireland. A former family and immigration lawyer with Sampson McPhee Lawyers in Sydney, he was hired by Louisbourg Seafoods in December 2018.

Louisbourg Seafoods is owned by Jim and Lori Kennedy, who started the business in 1984. It deals in snow crab, redfish, northern shrimp, lobster, sea cucumber and blue mussels.

Barry contributed $250 to Liberal candidate Marc Botte in the 2019 byelection in Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg, according to an Elections Nova Scotia candidate disclosure statement.

In an interview with QCCR last week, Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow, who was acting fisheries and aquaculture minister while Kent Smith was out of the country, did not know if another member would be appointed to the board to replace Jean McKenna, who left the board in mid-February.

The review board’s website has not been updated with Barry as a member.

A screengrab of the list of Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board members on the Nova Scotia government website.

McKenna was one of the first three members appointed to the review board in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. She had been its first and only chairwoman until her term expired earlier this month.

She was replaced as chair by Tim Cranston, a lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic in the last provincial election.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said last week that there was nothing inappropriate in Cranston’s appointment as chairman. He said McKenna’s term had expired and the board needed a new chair.

The review board was scheduled to begin hearings March 4 into an application from Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, to expand its fish farms in Liverpool Bay. Kelly Cove wants to expand its current operation near Coffin Island off Beach Meadows Beach to 20 pens from 14, and add trout to the salmon already farmed there. And it wants to add 40 new pens at two sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. It would mean more than 1.8 million salmon and trout being produced, compared

Groups involved in the hearing were surprised when they were sent a “high priority” email from review board clerk Stacy Bruce on Feb. 20, telling them McKenna was no longer with the board and that the March hearing dates would be cancelled.

Along with Kelly Cove Salmon, five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.

Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law, who is representing the lobster fishermen group, said it’s unusual that “a decision maker who has been significantly part of the process” would leave on the eve of the hearings.

“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge,” Simpson said in an interview last week. “When they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled now it’s a shock.”

Houston and Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland have both spoken against the planned expansion. At a business luncheon in Liverpool on Feb. 7, the premier said that while supports aquaculture in Nova Scotia, he was personally opposed to more fish farming in Liverpool Bay.

In an email Monday, board clerk Sayeed Maswod told QCCR to “visit the regularly updated NSARB website for all information related to hearings.”

The review board has been mum on when the hearings will begin, but Simpson told QCCR that dates set for April 2 to 5 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool are still a go.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Brian Muldoon protests the proposed fish farm expansion. QCCR file photo

A local environmental group is gearing up to fight a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool.

Protect Liverpool Bay was recently granted intervenor status to appear at the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board hearing into Kelly Cove Salmon’s proposed plan to expand their operation in Liverpool Bay.

Representatives from Acadia First Nations, Brooklyn Marina, 23 Fishermen of Liverpool Bay and the Region of Queens Municipality were also granted intervenor status in the hearing set to begin Feb 05, 2024.

The aquaculture board denied requests to intervene from several residents along with the South Queens Chamber of Commerce and the Ecology Action Centre.

President of the Protect Liverpool Bay Association Brian Muldoon argues the pens are too large and the water too shallow to safely operate a fish farm in this location. He says it’s not a question of if but when the farmed salmon will escape into the wild.

“I witnessed from Hurricane Lee three weeks ago, four weeks ago, whatever, that the nets were ripped apart here,” said Muldoon. “The actual feeding barge got ripped right off all the feeding lines and moved. Those fish weren’t even being fed for days.”

Muldoon says there is overwhelming opposition to the existing fish farm and the community has made it clear they do not want to see it expanded.

“You get the lobster fishermen, you get the Acadia First Nations who are saying no, you get Queens County who say no, we don’t want you, you get the Marina for navigational and recreational boating no, you say all of the members of PLB from beachgoers to homeowners all the ones that live in the area say no, so why are we even having this discussion?” asked Muldoon.

Protect Liverpool Bay is being represented at the board hearing by lawyers from Ecojustice. Muldoon says the board will not listen to repetitious arguments, so Ecojustice is working with other intervenors to ensure everyone has an opportunity to speak and present evidence.

“You want to have expert witnesses to come forward and you want to be able to make sure that they have all the, you know you may hire an oceanographer, or you can hire someone from the wild salmon,” said Muldoon. “You know, as PLB, we don’t have to talk about the eight deciding factors. You could pick two or three and focus on them.”

In their application, Kelly Cove Salmon explains the change is being requested to “fully encompass existing cages, mooring lines, and anchors within lease boundaries. The lease boundaries will incorporate six (6) additional cages resulting in a 2 x 10 configuration in addition to an increase in production to ensure the long term environmental and financial stability of this site.” 

Hearings into the application will be held February 5 through 9 at the Liverpool Best Western Hotel.

Follow these links to the Aquaculture Review Board Application Hearing and the Protect Liverpool Bay pages to learn more.

To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Brooklyn Marina. Photo Loris Azzano

Some in the community are upset with the board of the Queens Recreational Boating Association for giving notice to canteen operator Sharon Westlake they would not be leasing the Brooklyn Marina kitchen to her next year.

Westlake had been serving hot food out of the marina kitchen for the past several years but was informed she would not be offered the space to continue next summer.

A photo of the letter was shared on social media sparking an outcry of support for Westlake.

Association president Loris Azzano says the decision is no reflection on Westlake, her staff or the food, the marina simply needed the kitchen back to be able to provide more events for their members.

“Once you lease out that space you shut that door and inside that door is her space. Some of the comments were saying, you could use it when she’s not around and work around her hours. Well, that’s not how it works,” said Azzano. “We gave up the space. She’s got her own equipment, her own food in the fridge. You can’t go in and say okay, for Saturday I’m going to have a function and I’m going to start using your kitchen.”

Azzano says the 63 boating slips at the Brooklyn Marina have been booked solid for the past  two years and they have a waiting list.

He understands some people may complain about losing access to the canteen but at $450 a year, the slip fees are very inexpensive, and for $20 per year, anyone can have a social membership to the marina, they don’t need to own a boat.

Azzano says the Queens Recreational Boating Association board have made several upgrades to the Marina including new docks, installing a roof over the veranda and fresh paint.

He says now that they’ve taken care over the physical needs, they need to make long-term plans for the club, and they can’t do that without have full control over their own building.

“I’m disappointed that it went this far. And yet, on the one level, how do you let people know that we weren’t doing anything to discredit what Sharon has done and we weren’t doing anything against the community at large,” said Azzano. “It’s just from an operating marina facility, we really do need to control our own space. We need to be able to at least control it and then decide what we can offer, within the limitations of what we have as a facility.”

Azzano says the board will take the winter to determine how many volunteers and staff they will have next year before making plans for how the canteen will operate and what they can offer.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Sailboats line up along a dock at Brooklyn Marina. Photo Ian Clark

Brooklyn Marina is thriving during the pandemic.

The organization just released their annual report which shows the number of people involved with boating has increased dramatically in the past year and a half.

Membership is up from 69 in 2020 to 86 this year, while the number of docks being used has also risen from 47 last year to 63 in 2021.

Marina president Ian Clark says people were tired of being stuck at home and were looking to get outside.

“The pandemic has really seen recreational boating really take off in the past one and a half to two year and I think basically, what it came down to is that, people were tired of isolated and literally, they wanted to get out, you know, a breath of fresh air,” said Clark.

He says they’ve reached capacity at their docks however, members can still bring boats and launch them on a daily basis. Anyone wishing to find a permanent home for their boat needs to get on a wait list.

Clark is not surprised the marina has become so popular.

“The area around Brooklyn Marina is fantastic,” said Clark. “The fact that you’ve got a fairly sheltered bay on the open ocean. But the other thing of course, is you’ve got Coffin Island which you can go and visit.”

Clark says some of their members have been with the marina since it’s founding almost 25 years ago.

He says having people in the organization who know the history is an amazing resource and he’s equally excited about many of the new faces he is seeing.

“Getting people coming in from different communities or even out of the province is that, they have had membership at marinas elsewhere and come up with ideas that we’ll take a look at.”

Clark says those ideas are welcome now that many of the pandemic restrictions have been eased and the marina can return to hosting more social events.

“We’ve got a really good bunch of people on the marina board who are constantly coming up with great ideas. 2022 is going to be pretty exciting.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.