Huge amounts of feces from a proposed fish farm in Port Mouton Bay will destroy what’s left of the fishery there, advocates say.
Wednesday, the Friends of Port Mouton Bay held an “emergency press conference” in Halifax to try to halt to a new aquaculture being considered. They say fish feces from one existing farm have already made half the area barren.
“That inner harbour where the farm is now, once the pollution started, our lobster was pretty much nonexistent,” said fisherman Robert Swim.
“We’ve noticed that the crab fishery has dropped off, the mackerel fishery has dropped off. You get a few, but we have to go outside (the area).”
Swim said the bay doesn’t flush pollution out to the sea like other spots. He said the new, much larger aquaculture would decimate what is left of their industry.
Fisheries Minister Ron Chisholm didn’t have much of an answer to the group. He said it’s being studied by the federal government right now before being passed to the province.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have it in Port Mouton. I haven’t got the information in front of me yet to make that decision,” said Chisholm.
