Tempers flare as fisheries changes floated
Fishermen charge that proposal would make some rich on the backs of others
A plan to modernize the aquaculture zoning system in P.E.I. has been met with a tidal wave of opposition.
Federal and provincial fisheries officials floated the changes at a public meeting Wednesday at the Mill River Resort.
Chris Mills, DFO’s acting chief of aquaculture for P.E.I., explained that there are now 114 applications for shellfish leases on hold until a review of the zoning system is completed.
“We just wanted to take a step back and make sure we weren’t pushing aquaculture in an area where we really shouldn’t be,”
he told a crowd of leaseholders, members of the public fishery and landowners that was so large
that it spilled out the meeting room’s doors.
“We’re trying to achieve a balance between aquaculture production and the success of that industry versus other stakeholders on the water. We want to make sure we have that good balance going forward.”
What’s being proposed for Mill River is to move most shellfish leases currently along the south side of Mill River to the north side of the river and to permit those leaseholders to convert from bottom leases to off-bottom leases.
Members of the public fishery mounted loud opposition to the proposal with some suggesting leaseholders would be gaining at their expense.
“You’re taking away from 300 fishermen who could possibly fish there to give to three or four guys to make them rich,” one audience member charged.
“The one thing you have to remember is that if there is any oyster population on the footprint of an application, we’re not going to approve the application,” Mills responded.
“You’re lying!” fishermen John Vincent shouted back. “You go to Howe Bay and see what they did down there.”
He said the oysters there were two and a half feet deep and it got converted to leases mid-season.
Mills reminded the crowd of a 30-day period to provide input into the proposal.
Comments can be mailed to the P.E.I. Aquaculture Leasing Division. P.O. Box 1236, Charlottetown, C1A 7M8.
The Mill River meeting is the first in a series to be held across P.E.I. Leaseholders are in agreement to move across the river as it would give them greater water depth.
It would also move the leases from the residential side of the river to an area primarily off the shores of the P.E.I. Potato Board’s Elite Seed Farm.
Mills said the public fishery would have access to the side of the river the leaseholders vacate and to areas on the northside, such as inside the leases.
“We’d totally free up the south side of the river for commercial fishers,” he said.
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Robert Henderson, who also attended the meeting, said they’ve seen an evolution in shellfish leasing in this particular area, and now they’re trying to look at it with a clean slate and say, “how do we make this, to put it back together that makes more sense to everybody?”
He pointed to the public fishery wanting more ground, leaseholders wanting off-bottom leases, cottage owners who don’t like the view and recreational boaters who have raised safety issues.
“There are a lot of factors involved, so, from that perspective, we’re just trying to say ‘here’s a consultation.’”
“There are a lot of factors involved, so, from that perspective, we’re just trying to say, ‘here’s a consultation.’” Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Robert Henderson