Opponents of salmon farm expansion will make their case at hearing

A man protests on a street holding a sign that reads "no to fish farm expansion"

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.

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E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Port Medway eel grass restoration pilot could lead to more protected shoreline

A woman looking at eel grass below the surface of the water

Planting eel grass. Photo courtesy of Ecology Action Centre. Credit: Nicolas Winkler

A pilot project to protect eel grass along part of the coastline in Port Medway got underway this summer.

While the process is established in other parts of the world it is relatively new to Nova Scotia.

Eel grass conservation technician with the Ecology Action Centre Aaron Clausen says eel grass is vitally important as part of a healthy marine ecosystem.

“It’s kind of hard not to overstate the importance of eel grass… kind of hard not to overstate the importance and the benefits that eel grass meadows provide both to the environment and just humans. First and foremost, they provide a great deal of support to our fish populations and commercial fisheries. They create tons of structural habitat for a lot of these species and an area for kind of juveniles as a nursery ground, things like lobster, eel, salmon, and some shellfish,” said Clausen. “Additionally, they improve water quality, oxygenates the water column, remove toxins, excess nutrients and increases clarity and eel grass meadows also protect our Coastline it can dampen strong waves, buffers the shoreline from storm surges and this all helps to slow coastal erosion.”

Clausen says the small aquatic plant could also be part of a solution to a global problem.

“And the last thing that we still don’t really have a great concept of the extent that eel grass can help at least in Nova Scotia, but it captures and stores carbon from the atmosphere in these sediments so it’s potentially a nature based solution.”

The site was selected after a local property owner notified the Ecology Action Centre of dead eel grass washing up on their shore.

Teams from the Ecology Action Centre and Dalhousie University’s Future of Marine Ecosystems Lab partnered to determine which methods work best to restore eel grass in Nova Scotia.

Over 6,000 seed, 250 shoots and 25 sods were transplanted from a donation site to the Port Medway location.

Clausen says they’re hopeful the techniques used in Port Medway can be applied to restore eel grass at other locations in Nova Scotia and beyond.

“One of the main goals of this project is to find a, if there is a way that works and b, if it’s a scalable method,” said Clausen. “Obviously, you want to do as much of this as possible especially with all of the great benefits that eel grass provides. You want to upscale it quickly.”

The Ecology Action Centre has set up a site where citizen scientists can help track the location of eel grass across the province.

Input from everyday Nova Scotians will be added to a map of eel grass meadows that will help government, academic researchers and other non-profit and community groups monitor the location and conditions of the meadows.

Follow this link to participate in the eelgrass mapping project:

www.inaturalist.org/projects/eac-eelgrass-mapping-project

Clausen says the team will continue monitoring the eel grass transplant site late into the fall and will return in the spring.

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

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