Ecology Action Centre calls for continued aquaculture moratorium
Posted Dec 9, 2015 12:12:53 PM.
Last Updated Dec 9, 2015 12:15:39 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – An environmental group says Nova Scotia’s new aquaculture rules are “far below expectations” after releasing an analysis today of the regulations affecting fish farms.
The Ecology Action Centre wants a moratorium on new fish farms to continue until the regulations are improved.
The organization says its review of the regulations finds they fall short of the recommendations in a 2014 report prepared by Dalhousie University legal experts Meinhard Doelle and Bill Lahey on the $60-million industry.
The Ecology Action Centre says one of the most important parts of the Doelle-Lahey report was to establish zones where aquaculture could and couldn’t exist, but the government’s new rules are limited in addressing those recommendations.
The group also says the new regulations set no clear parameters or minimum standards when determining where fish farms can be located.
In October, Nova Scotia’s Liberal government released new rules for fish farms and created an agency to regulate the approval of new licenses.
