{"id":9291,"date":"2025-10-09T11:27:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=9291"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:15:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T18:15:27","slug":"n-s-premier-happy-with-kelly-coves-smaller-fish-farm-expansion-plans-in-queens-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/10\/09\/n-s-premier-happy-with-kelly-coves-smaller-fish-farm-expansion-plans-in-queens-county\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. premier ‘happy’ with Kelly Cove’s smaller fish farm expansion plans in Queens County"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Queens MLA Kim Masland and Premier Tim Houston take questions at a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024. (Rick Conrad file photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

As hearings continue this week into a proposed expanded fish farm in Queens County, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has softened his stance against aquaculture in Liverpool Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a question-and-answer session at a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024, Houston said he was personally opposed<\/a> to Kelly Cove Salmon\u2019s plan to expand its operations near Coffin Island, off Beach Meadows Beach, and to add two new sites in Brooklyn and Mersey Point. That would have added 46 more open-net pens and 1.4 million more farmed salmon in Liverpool Bay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelly Cove is a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI think some areas are great for aquaculture and I think that some others are maybe not the best place for it,\u201d Houston said last year. \u201cOn this specific question on Liverpool Bay, \u2026 I personally don\u2019t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But this week, Houston told QCCR that he\u2019s more comfortable with the company\u2019s application to add six cages for a 20-pen farm at its Coffin Island site.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the time the initial proposals were much larger than what is before the board now,” he said in an interview. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I think there was some acknowledgement of the concerns that I and others had, certainly residents had, and modification, really bringing things down to size. So the board will make their decision now, but I was happy to see some kind of more appropriate sizing being put before the board.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens MLA Kim Masland, however, told QCCR that she is still opposed to the expansion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy position\u2019s never changed,\u201d she said in an interview Wednesday. \u201cAnd I think if you check the record, there is not another MLA that has said that in this province.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A three-member panel of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board began hearings on Tuesday in Bridgewater.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Panel chairman Damien Barry told the hearing that on July 18, the board granted Kelly Cove\u2019s request to split the three applications. The company asked the board to proceed with the Coffin Island boundary amendment and leave the applications for two new farms \u201cin abeyance\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawyers are representing six groups at the tribunal, including Kelly Cove Salmon, the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Region of Queens, community group Protect Liverpool Bay, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay and the Wasoqopa\u2019q First Nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens County residents opposed to the application were upset that the board didn\u2019t hold hearings in Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the hearing began, Barry said the board tried to find a suitable location in Liverpool for the dates that were set aside. But nothing was available.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked on Wednesday, Masland said she was also upset when she found out the hearings were going to be held in Bridgewater.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately went and met with the minister of fisheries and aquaculture in person, expressed my displeasure and asked for the reasons why and asked him to investigate it. Again, ARB is independent from government, but he did look into it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo I feel that they should have changed the date? Absolutely. It should have been held here in the community and where the fish farm expansion is going, and the minister knows that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The hearings are expected to continue until Friday afternoon at the Days Inn in Bridgewater. People can register here to watch a livestream<\/a> of the proceedings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/premieronfishfarmoct925.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As hearings continue this week into a proposed expanded fish farm in Queens County, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has softened his stance against aquaculture in Liverpool Bay. During a question-and-answer session at a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024, Houston said he was personally opposed to Kelly Cove Salmon\u2019s plan to expand its […]<\/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":[1777,1586,2017,1662,1585,1797,3478,363,1474,31,1475,1476,24,98,3279],"class_list":["post-9291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-22-lobster-fishermen-of-liverpool-bay","tag-aquaculture","tag-beach-meadows-beach","tag-coffin-island","tag-cooke-aquaculture","tag-damien-barry","tag-department-of-fisheries-and-aquaculture","tag-fish-farms","tag-kelly-cove-salmon","tag-kim-masland","tag-liverpool-bay","tag-protect-liverpool-bay","tag-region-of-queens","tag-tim-houston","tag-wasoqopaq-first-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291","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=9291"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9299,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions\/9299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}