A group on the South Shore is raising concerns about Aquaculture Regulations.
Darrell Tingley from Coastal Community Activists spoke at a council meeting for the Municipality of Chester.
He says new rules don’t go far enough to protect local waters from fish farms.
Tingley adds if pens are allowed on the South Shore it will have a devastating effect on the lobster industry.
“Chemicals used to kill sea lice on the salmon will spread out of the pens with the tidal waters,” he says.
Tingley says those chemicals have already killed hundreds of lobster in New Brunswick.
He wants to prevent the same thing from happening here.
Meanwhile, Bruce Hancock, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, says the province understands what’s at risk.
He says that’s why the Nova Scotia government put the new regulations in place.
“It’s about mitigating any impact that could be from any kind of aquaculture operation,” he says, “to insure that it doesn’t have any negative effect on any other activity that takes place in the ocean and that certainly includes lobster.”
Hancock says they will continue to work with stakeholders in both industries to make sure our waters are protected.
