{"id":7294,"date":"2024-05-09T15:35:51","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T18:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7294"},"modified":"2024-05-09T19:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T22:59:11","slug":"radio-silence-continues-as-review-board-mum-on-fish-farm-hearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/radio-silence-continues-as-review-board-mum-on-fish-farm-hearings\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Radio silence’ continues as review board mum on fish farm hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a little over a month since Nova Scotia\u2019s aquaculture review board indefinitely adjourned hearings into a fish farm application in Liverpool Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s still no indication if the hearings will ever begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors in the hearing, a group of lobster fishermen. He said Thursday he hasn\u2019t heard a word.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe parties haven\u2019t been informed of any updates, any new dates, or any attempts to schedule anything,” Simpson said in an interview. <\/span><\/p>\n

“It\u2019s just kind of radio silence at the moment. And I guess we\u2019re just kind of sitting tight waiting to see what might happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a \u201chigh priority\u201d email<\/a> from the board, telling them those hearings were cancelled. Lawyers were told that April hearing dates were still a go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then on March 6, the board posted a notice<\/a> on its website that \u201call sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The board did not give a reason. And it\u2019s still just as tight-lipped today as it was then.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bruce also turned down a request from QCCR to interview board chairman Tim Cranston<\/a>. He said board members are not available for public comment on their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Part of the ministerial order from Feb. 17, 2023, reappointing Jean McKenna as chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board for one year.<\/p><\/div>\n

A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture declined comment Thursday on the delays.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Kent Smith, Nova Scotia\u2019s fisheries and aquaculture minister, also would not comment Thursday. A spokeswoman said it wouldn\u2019t be appropriate to comment while the matter is still before the board.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawyer Jamie Simpson said that regulatory boards generally try to address issues in a timely manner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s up to the board to make that happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audo version below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/fishfarmupdatemay924.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a little over a month since Nova Scotia\u2019s aquaculture review board indefinitely adjourned hearings into a fish farm application in Liverpool Bay. And there\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1777,1337,1586,48,462,1662,1585,2162,2163,1798,1767,1765,1768,1474,1778,1760,39,1589,1587,1476,24,2160,2161,1779,1766,98],"class_list":["post-7294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-22-lobster-fishermen-of-liverpool-bay","tag-acadia-first-nation","tag-aquaculture","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-marina","tag-coffin-island","tag-cooke-aquaculture","tag-farmed-salmon","tag-farmed-trout","tag-fish-farming","tag-jamie-simpson","tag-jean-mckenna","tag-juniper-law","tag-kelly-cove-salmon","tag-kent-smith","tag-kwilmukw-maw-klusuaqn","tag-liverpool","tag-mersey-point","tag-nova-scotia-aquaculture-review-board","tag-protect-liverpool-bay","tag-region-of-queens","tag-regulatory-boards","tag-stacy-bruce","tag-steve-craig","tag-tim-cranston","tag-tim-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7299,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions\/7299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}