Shelburne

Public presentation on the results of Shelburne Harbour study

7:00pm
- 9:00pm
Mardi Juillet 15 2014

Public presentation on the results of Shelburne Harbour study on July 15, 2014 at the Shelburne Regional High School. The presentation will begin at 7:00 pm. Free to public

Not every bay, harbour, or inlet along Nova Scotia's coast is suitable for open net pen fish farming. That message is one of the conclusions of a multi-year study examining the recovery of the sea bottom post-farming.

Inka Milewski, a marine biologist and science advisor for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, has been studying the sea bottom at a former fish farm in Shelburne Harbour. Two years after the last salmon were harvested at the former Sandy Point farm site in ShelburneHarbour, the sea bottom remains toxic and marine life has not recovered.

Her study found that 50 to 90 percent of the sea bottom under and around the former fish farm remains covered in white sulfur-tolerant bacterial mats and sediment copper and zinc levels are still at toxic levels. Copper and zinc are additives in fish feed and are used in anti-fouling products found in marine paint and coatings for nets and rope. Sediment sulphide levels, the only measure the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture uses to evaluate environmental health, are also still above acceptable limits. 

Milewski said that her study shows that the location of fish farms matters and she hopes that the recommendations from the independent panel reviewing aquaculture regulations in Nova Scotia will address the need for better site selection criteria and process to avoid the ecological destruction seen in Shelburne Harbour.

Milewski also hopes that the panel addresses the need for the outcomes of that selection process to be enforced.

"More than a decade ago DFO scientists developed an excellent decision-making tool for evaluating the suitability of open net pen lease applications that took into account a wide range of local environmental, economic, and social considerations. However, if the outcome of applying the tool to the site location didn't favour approval of the lease application, the results were ignored and the farm was approved anyway", said Milewski.

According to Milewski, the DFO decision-making tool had been applied in 2010 to three proposed salmon farm sites in Shelburne Harbour. These sites were approximately 100 meters from existing salmon farm sites whose environment ratings were poor. The proposed sites all received an “Unacceptable Site” rating according to the DFO decision support system, with the worst score at the proposed site 100 metres from Milewski's study site, which still has not recovered. Nonetheless, all three leases were approved.

Milewski said that a more robust site selection process would avoid putting open net pen farms where there is a greater likelihood of environment damage, traditional fisheries displacement, and community dissatisfaction.

Milewski will be in Shelburne to make a presentation on the results of her study on July 15, 2014 at the Shelburne Regional High School. The presentation will begin at 7:00 pm. Free to public

Note: The recently-released Doelle-Lahey Panel report on the Independent Aquaculture Regulatory Review for Nova Scotia spent considerale effort addressing the need for specific, evidence-based guidelines for aquaculture site selection.  http://www.aquaculturereview.ca/sites/default/files/Draft%20Report%20July%203.pdf

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