Salmon Feedlot Opponents March
Halifax, NS — More than 150 citizens from the Eastern Shore travelled nearly two hours from the eastern edge of HRM to march on the Legislature November 7 to demand a moratorium on the licensing of open pen salmon feedlots in HRM’s Eastern Shore Bays. They were joined by around 40 more anti-salmon farm protesters from across the province.
The Association for the Preservation of the Eastern Shore (APES) brought hundreds of pages of responses to Environmental Assessments carried out for Snow Island Salmon, a subsidiary of Scottish company, Loch Duart. “The Environmental Assessments carried out for the industry are so full of inaccurate information that they are a joke!” said Bill Williams, a life-long angler and hunter from the area. “Worse still, now that, as of this fall, Environmental Assessments are now no longer required or handled by the federal government, we have nowhere to take our concerns about the environmental harms this industry will cause in our communities and bays. We are asking the province to accept these materials and to take our concerns seriously.”
President of APES, Dr. Marike Finlay, called for the provincial Minister of the Environment, Sterling Belliveau, to step up the level of play for licensing Snow Island Salmon to include a community-based, scientific assessment to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no harm will come from this industry to the Eastern Shore environment, quality of life, and other industries such as lobster and tourism.
“We have a problem,” Dr. Finlay argued. “We do not believe that the Minister of the Environment, Sterling Belliveau, can presently guarantee an objective view of environmental harm, because he is also the Minister of Aquaculture, and openly promotes open pen fin fish aquaculture.” Bill Williams agreed: “Sterling Belliveau needs to choose whether he wants to promote salmon aquaculture or protect the environment and the wild-catch fishery. He cannot remain Minister of Aquaculture, Fisheries, and the Environment. These three portfolios and the politician who holds them need to be separated.”
Stakeholders from the lobster fishery, tourism, wild salmon anglers, the Sheet Harbour Chamber of Commerce and coastal dwellers of all ages came to Halifax to refuse open pen salmon feedlots in their coastal waters. A recent petition banning open pen salmon feedlots in two bays where they have been proposed, Spry Bay and Shoal Bay, was signed by more than 90% of the residents of those bays. “It is outrageous that millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money is being spent to contaminate our bays, endanger our extant industries, and then compensate these companies when their fish die of disease. This industry is not economically sustainable without huge government subsidies,” said chant leader, Heather McCleod.
Minister Belliveau did not accept APES’ invitation to meet the citizens and receive their petitions. Progressive Conservative Leader, Jamie Baillie, did speak with the assembled citizens. He said he “had seen the future and it was on land closed-containment fish farming.” City Councillor David Hendsbee accompanied the entire march with his constituents dressed in a Bruins shirt, because, as he said, “bears prefer wild salmon.”