Spirited Meeting in Sandy Cove

Fish farm foes make points
Opponents ‘had to take over meeting’
By GORDON DELANEY Valley Bureau
Sat, Aug 28 - 4:53 AM

Andy Moir is a member of the Save Our Bays lobby group opposing proposed fish farms in the Digby Neck area. (Jim Meek)






Opponents of two controversial fish farms in the Digby Neck area had their say at a meeting Thursday night but still want more public consultation.

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department held an open house in Sandy Cove, where project foes insisted on expressing their concerns.

"It was a pretty interesting meeting," Andy Moir, a member of the Save Our Bays lobby group, said in an interview Friday.

"We told them that we weren’t interested in the meet-and-greet-style format, that we wanted to ask our questions and hear the answers."

The 150 people, including many local fishermen and representatives of the Bear River First Nation, gathered outside and walked in together. They then demanded to make their statements and ask their questions.

"Basically, we had to take over the meeting," said Moir, a resident of Freeport.

He said the group made its presentations in two hours.

Moir said the community wants more public consultation on a proposal submitted by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd., a division of Cooke Aquaculture of New Brunswick, to operate two salmon farms in St. Marys Bay, Digby County.

Celeste Sulliman, spokeswoman for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, said the meeting was useful and productive.

"The process that we went in with was not the process that we ended up utilizing," she said of the meeting in an interview Friday.

"We responded to the wishes of the community. They really wanted a forum where they could ask questions publicly."

Sulliman said the department will continue to take written submissions. She added that while there is public opposition, there are also supporters.

"We will continue to assess all the submissions, along with the science and the facts," she said.

Cooke Aquaculture wants the two fish farms operational by next spring.

The proposed farms total 84 hectares and are under government review. Written submissions will be accepted until Sept. 16. If approved, it would be the largest salmon farm in the province. The two 42-hectare sites — one at Freeport, the other at Grand Passage — would each see one million salmon raised and harvested every three years, Mike Szemerda, vice-president of salt water operations for Cooke Aquaculture, said in a recent interview.


The company maintains the farms will create 20 jobs, but opponents say it is more likely about 10 jobs would result.

It already operates one fish farm in the area, between Briar and Long islands.

About 80 per cent of the approximately 1,000 residents in that area signed a petition against it. Residents are concerned about pollution from the fish farms, interference with the lobster fishery and the possible impact on whales, dolphins and porpoises.