Nova Scotia speeding up approvals for shellfish aquaculture
CBC
Nova Scotia has moved to speed up approvals for shellfish aquaculture in the southernmost part of the province.
Oyster and mussel farming has been stymied in Nova Scotia by a lengthy regulatory process that treats shellfish operations the same as much more complex — and controversial — open-net pen finfish sites.
Under a newly designated aquaculture development, 53 pre-approved sites in the Municipality of Argyle will be made available for shellfish or marine plant aquaculture. The first six lease sites opened Monday with a June 15 application deadline.
"This is the first of its kind in Canada," Kent Smith, the province's fisheries and aquaculture minister, said Monday after making the announcement in Tusket.
Over a span of years, the municipality did much of the legwork, gathering science data, securing federal approvals, and holding public meetings — an effort to identify suitable sites.
It considers the Argyle aquaculture development area (ADA) a water-based industrial park.
Lease applications will be subject to a provincial administrative review. It's a much faster process than applying to the aquaculture review board — a quasi-judicial board whose few public hearings have been adversarial.
"It's going to save them two to three years," said Argyle Warden Danny Muise. "If they just apply for the licences, all the work we've done in the last few years has to be done by the government. They have to do all the testing, make sure they grow there. We did all this preliminary work for them."
Oyster farmer Nolan D'Eon will apply for one of the sites. He said he could triple production in Argyle.
"It's a really big deal for D'Eon Oyster, to be honest, because we can't produce enough oysters on our lease for the demand," he said.
He said the municipality has removed some of the uncertainty over whether a site is likely to be productive.
"If you have areas that have already been checked out and are pretty sure are going to grow and save two years.... It's big," he said.
Smith hopes aquaculture development areas can be exported to other parts of the province.
"But it's going to depend on the municipality. We really relied on the folks in Argyle to do the groundwork and get community engagement and community buy-in," Smith said.
