Aquaculture rules weighed at meetings

July 12, 2013 THE CHRONICLE HERALD

The public is being given an opportunity to weigh in on the development of new provincial aquaculture standards.

Following on Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Sterling Belliveau’s May announcement that the government planned to develop regulations for a more sustainable industry, the province has organized public meetings.
 

Meetings will be held as follows:

July 15: Mabou Community Centre, Highway 19, Mabou,

and at the Old Orchard Inn, 153Greenwich Rd. South, Wolfville

July 16: Cultural Centre, 17 Bay St. Lawrence Rd., Cape North, and the Royal Canadian Legion, 34 Duke St., Lunenburg

July 17: Days Inn, 480 Kings Rd., Sydney, and at Emera Centre, 50Queens Place Dr., Liverpool

July 18: Inverary Resort, Exit 9, Highway 105, 368 Shore Rd., Baddeck, and at the Shelburne firehall, 63 King St., Shelburne

July 22: Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 58, 23566 Highway 7, Sheet Harbour

July 23: Oyster Pond firehall, 51Old Trunk Rd., Head of

Jeddore

July 24: St. James United Church, 3811 Old Sambro Rd., Sambro

July 25: Waterfront Jost House, 106 Main St., Guysborough village

July 30: Rodd Grand Hotel, 417Main St., Yarmouth

July 31 at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, Cornwallis Park, Cornwallis

Aug. 19 at the Parrsboro firehall, 252 Willow St., Parrsboro

Aug. 20: Best Western, 150 Willow St., Truro

Aug. 21: Tatamagouche firehall, 202 Main St., Tatamagouche

Aug. 26: Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, 606 Reeves St., Port Hawkesbury

Aug. 27: Claymore Inn,

133 Church St., Antigonish

Aug. 29: Museum of Industry, 147N. Foord St., Stellarton.

Sessions will be 2:30 p.m. to 4:30p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.at each location.

The meetings will be led by independent consultants Meinhard Doelle and Bill Lahey, both Dalhousie law professors.

The date and location of the Halifax meeting will be announced later this summer.

More information is available at www.aquaculturereview.ca.

APES´ STRATEGY FOR THE REGULATORY REVIEW PANEL MEETING

 

APES decided that we will present effectively as a group on Monday July 22nd in Sheet Harbour during the initial 2:30 – 4:30 session if possible. We will encourage a strong turnout for the afternoon and evening sessions.
We will also engage with others relative to the Panel hearings in Jeddore and Guysborough next week as well. 

We will attempt to speak the Province Wide Message (NO OPEN NET PEN – there is no way to do the wrong thing right) but do so with a specific Eastern Shore point of view. 

We will address the Panel under 5 Broad Headings:

• Environmental Assessment findings and concerns
• Community Concern 
• Economic Development
• Tourism / Nova Scotia Trust 
• Wild Fisheries impacts 

Our goal is to make the Panel aware of the wealth of information and engagement that has taken place on the Eastern Shore in the last 18 months and the strong feeling in opposition to Open Net Pen within our Eastern Shore community …. . Reference to our APES web site is a quick and compelling starting point.

We will make Application for two or three of the Community Dialogue and Community Research projects offered in the web site.

We will request that APES be included in the Round Table discussion format upcoming at next stage(s) of this Regulatory Review Process. 

We will highlight the conflict of interest within both levels of Government for regulatory review and aquaculture promotion.
This continues to be an untenable situation for Government to entertain these simultaneous roles in the process.

We will support other communities around the Province on this file – particularly those with harmful impacts of Open Net Pen already in place.

We will engage with Fishers on the Eastern Shore to make certain that their specific voice is heard at the Panel hearings. 

We will contact the Panel and/or committee members before next week so as to better understand the format and approach for these initial hearings . Is the Panel simply taking presenters on a “first come, first served basis “, or is there a time slot which we will be given ? How structured is the Process ? Will the Panel question presenters?
Will some or all Committee Members of the Panel be present as well?

We will engage with other Communities who will present this week and quickly determine a feel for the process in advance of our session next Monday. 

We are extremely confident we can provide an inclusive thoughtful presentation on behalf of the Eastern Shore to the Panel next week . Attendance by any community members is highly encouraged.