The case has been made both for and against an application by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. for a boundary amendment to their marine finfish licence and lease (AQ#1039) known as the Rattling Beach site in Annapolis Basin, Digby County.
The public hearing for the application, held Nov. 15 to 18 in Yarmouth, was the first ever public hearing on an open pen salmon farm held by the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board (ARB).
“Within 30 days of a hearing, the Board will issue a decision, including reasoning and post on their public website,” stated the ARB online.
“The application before the Board is to simply bring all moorings and equipment within the lease boundary on a farm that has been operating at this location since 1994 under the approval of the provincial regulator, Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. This application represents no change whatsoever in equipment, location or production increases,” stated Kelly Cove, a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture.
“Kelly Cove first applied for this boundary amendment in 2016. At every step of the way, Kelly Cove has complied with the current lease, and today our representatives presented how the company meets all the lease criteria to the ARB. We are optimistic that the Board will approve this boundary amendment, and we look forward to continuing to operate in Digby.”
However, the Nova Scotia Ecology Action Centre (EAC) doesn’t see it that way.
The EAC has said that Cooke has been operating in expanded territory outside of the Rattling Beach lease area for years with the knowledge of provincial regulators. A number of groups and individuals have called on the provincial government multiple times to bring Rattling Beach and four other out-of-bounds sites into compliance, alleging that proper processes for expansion approvals under the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act (FCRA) never took place.
“Rather than fixing the problem when it was first identified, the previous minister bent his government’s own rules and looked the other way to accommodate an industry profiting in public waters, without any accountability to the public,” said Simon Ryder-Burbidge, Marine Campaign Coordinator with EAC in a media release.
“We all have questions we’d like to ask regulators about why the ARB is retroactively approving sites that have already been expanded — but we won’t get the chance.”
The EAC, along with the Healthy Bays Network and the St. Mary’s Bay Protectors were denied intervenor status in the hearing by the ARB.
“We’re really concerned that the ARB won’t be able to make a comprehensive assessment of the Rattling Beach site when so many important voices are left out of the room,” says Ryder-Burbidge. “The EAC, ECELAW and several members of the HBN were part of the Doelle-Lahey process that initially conceived of the ARB. The whole point was to make space for more public participation. We’re not going to see that here.”
Local resident Gregory Heming, represented by Ecojustice, was granted intervenor status for the hearing.
“Thousands of Nova Scotians have repeatedly voiced their concerns about Kelly Cove operating outside its lease boundaries at Rattling Beach and other sites across the province. I am intervening because I believe it is critical these voices are considered as the ARB decides whether or not to approve the lease expansion,” said Heming in a media release.
Heming’s next statement, that “Fish farming is based in a faulty economic model that relies on the destruction of the ecosystem,” came under fire from the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia (AANS).
“It is an unfortunate reality that salmon fish farming has been the subject of sustained misinformation campaigns, and in particular one coming from Ecojustice,” said Tom Smith, Executive Director of the AANS.
“What makes this disturbing is that fish farming supports thousands of essential jobs in rural communities across Atlantic Canada — jobs that have become even more precious during these difficult economic times. For more than 40 years, Nova Scotians have supported marine fish farming and recognized that it can coexist with other fisheries on working waterfronts.”
Smith said the week of the hearing, Ecojustice was spreading misinformation against the lease amendment application by Cooke Aquaculture, stating that “fish farming is based in a faulty economic model that relies on the destruction of the ecosystem.”
“Clearly this is not the case when Nova Scotia fish farming site leases have been repeatedly renewed in the province after significant environmental and scientific review by government regulators, academics and others,” said Smith.
After spending three days attending the ARB hearing, the AANS is demanding that national organizations like Ecojustice and local organizations like the Ecology Action Centre, focus on current and future regulatory and enforcement efforts, instead of dissecting aquaculture practices of the past.
The AANS says the Coller Fairr Protein Index, which ranks global protein producers on environmental, social and governance issues against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, ranks salmon aquaculture at the top for sustainability. Fish and shellfish farmed in the ocean allow species to be raised in their natural environment. They are a top food choice for those who want a healthy option while reducing their environmental impact.
“All forms of Nova Scotian aquaculture are based on science, follow best practices, are regulated by governments, maintain a focus on responsible food production, create jobs in coastal communities and keep the carbon footprint of food production low. The facts are clear — Nova Scotia marine fish farming is one of the most sustainable ways to grow protein in the world.”
The AANS says it’s worth noting that the vast majority of Nova Scotians are neutrally supportive of aquaculture, so there is an obvious disconnect between groups like Ecojustice who are funded by supporters from around the world, not specifically Nova Scotians who oppose aquaculture.
“Seafood farming in Nova Scotia needs to continue to expand if we are to realize our full potential in this province, and organizations that seek to prevent this expansion based on outdated and misleading information need to refocus their energies on that fact that more than 85 per cent of the world’s marine stocks are either fully exploited or overfished and practices such as fish farming are a sustainable solution to global food security,” said Smith.
