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

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

April hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay have been cancelled.

The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board posted on its website last Wednesday that “all sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice. Timeframes for submissions to the Board remain unchanged and are closed.”

It’s the latest surprising turn of events for the review board. In early February, Premier Tim Houston announced at a business luncheon in Liverpool that he personally opposes the expansion in Liverpool Bay. He added that he respects the independence of the review board.

Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its existing operation off Coffin Island. It also wants to add two new site off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.

On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a “high priority” email telling them the hearings scheduled for March 4 to 8 were cancelled. They were also told that board chairwoman Jean McKenna was no longer with the board.

Lawyers were told that other dates that had been scheduled for early April were still a go.

A new chairman was appointed. Tim Cranston was appointed to the board in February 2023. He also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election in Halifax.

Houston told reporters that McKenna’s term had expired and that there was nothing inappropriate about Cranston’s appointment.

And then last week, the board posted on its site that the April dates were now cancelled.

The board has been mum about all the recent changes and hearing cancellations, saying only that when new information is available, it will be posted on its website.

There is no indication when or if they will be rescheduled.

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

Premier Tim Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday. (Nova Scotia Government)

By Rick Conrad

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says having a former Progressive Conservative candidate as the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board won’t affect the board’s independence as it hears an application to expand fish farming in Liverpool Bay.

Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting Thursday. He was asked about the change this week in the board’s leadership.

Chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board. Her replacement as chairman is Tim Cranston, a board member who also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election.

“Mr. Cranston has been on that board for quite some time,” Houston said. “He’s a free thinker. As a member of that board, he’ll listen to the evidence and hear the hearings. The chairperson’s term had expired and it was time for a new chair and there’s a new chair and that’s a good thing. But the work will be done by that board.”

Greg Morrow, acting minister of fisheries and aquaculture, said Thursday in an interview that McKenna’s term expired on Feb. 15. Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith is out of the country on a trade mission and was not available for comment.

“As I understand it, her term was already extended and that extension has expired. So a new chair has  been appointed. Legislation enables these types of transitions. It’s all part of that process and we have faith in it.”

McKenna was one of the board’s first three members when she was appointed chairwoman in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. Morrow did not know if a new member would be appointed to the board.

Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay. 

Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. 

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.

Groups involved in the hearing were surprised this week when the board told them that McKenna was no longer chairwoman, and that hearings planned for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool were cancelled.

Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law represents a group of 22 lobster fishermen who oppose the expansion. 

“It seems a bit bizarre when you have a decision-maker who has been significantly part of the process and then to all of a sudden not have that decision maker there it is certainly unusual from my experience,” Simpson said in an interview Wednesday.

Morrow wouldn’t comment on that, and said that the board’s schedule is up to the new chairman.

He said there was nothing inappropriate about how the new chairman was appointed.

“I’m not concerned. It’s an independent board. They’ll make their decision on all applications that are brought forward to them. Anyone that’s interested in being considered for appointments can apply through the government-wide ABC appointment process. Mr. Cranston was already a board member, … and he met the criteria for the position. Rules governing the independent board are established, fair and they’re known to everyone so, no, I have no concerns about the independence of the board.”

Unless the board decides otherwise, hearings into Kelly Cove’s application will begin April 2 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to Thursday’s news update below

Tim Cranston is the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board. (Facebook)

By Rick Conrad

The chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board is out and a new chairman is in.

Groups getting ready for hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay got a surprise this week when they were told chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board, and that hearings set for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool are cancelled.

Her replacement is Tim Cranston, who was appointed to the board on Feb. 16, 2023, and who ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the last provincial election.

Cranston is a lawyer with 20-plus years’ experience for two marine biotech companies, according to his biography on the review board’s website. He also owned and operated two rockweed leases during that time. And he was the co-founder of Natural Ocean Products.

As a candidate for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic, he lost to Liberal MLA Brendan Maguire.

(Nova Scotia PC Party Facebook page)

Cranston was appointed to the review board for a three-year term by then Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig.

Former chairwoman McKenna had been reappointed member and chairwoman at the same time as Cranston. But according to the list of recent appointments to agencies, boards and commissions as of Feb. 16, 2023, her term expired on Feb. 15, 2024. McKenna is still listed as the chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Police Review Board.

Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay. Simpson said he received a “high priority” email on Tuesday from the board’s clerk telling him that the March hearing dates were cancelled and that McKenna was no longer on the board.

“Certainly, it came out of the blue and at a fairly late stage of planning for this hearing. From my experience, I’ve certainly never seen or heard of a decision maker being switched right where we’re in mid-stride here just getting ready to go into the first scheduled portion of the hearing coming up in early March just a couple of weeks away here. So it was quite surprising, that’s for sure.” 

Simpson said the board gave no reason. The board had also set aside April 2 to 5 for the hearing at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool. Simpson said those dates still stand.

“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among all the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge. So when they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled, it’s a shock. But I can only guess that that has to do with the new chair needing time to get up to speed.”  

Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay. 

Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to include trout as well as salmon. It also wants to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. 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.

Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, said Wednesday he was waiting for more information from the board.

“I’m really not offering any additional comment on it. We’ll have our communication with them and we’ll go from there.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston came out against the project at an event organized by the South Queens Chamber of Commerce in Liverpool on Feb. 7. 

“I think some areas are great for aquaculture and I think that some others are maybe not the best place for it.

“On this specific question on Liverpool Bay, … I personally don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it. That’s my personal opinion. I respect the process, the independent review board will do their process and will have hearings. They’ll do their thing. But my personal opinion is I don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it.”

Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, has spoken against the expansion since she was an Opposition MLA. She also repeated her stand against it at the same event.

Masland submitted a letter to the review board, but it was rejected because it said that it had to be free of the “appearance of any possible influence” by elected officials.

QCCR asked the review board for comment on the delay and on McKenna’s status.

In an email, board clerk Stacy Bruce referred questions about board appointments to the minister of fisheries and aquaculture.

“Information about the upcoming public hearing in Liverpool on applications by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. Is posted on the Board’s website,” he wrote. 

Bruce said new hearing dates would be posted on the board’s website when they’re available.

A spokesperson for Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith could not be reached Wednesday.

Lawyer Jamie Simpson says that despite the “bizarre” turn of events, he and his clients continue to prepare for the hearings.

“Looking forward to representing the interests of the lobster fishermen with respect to the potential impact of this massive aquaculture site on their livelihoods and also the ability it would have to navigate safely through Liverpool Bay.” 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to an audio version of this story below