‘If we allow it, our fisheries die’
Fishermen are protesting mill’s proposal to pipe effluent into waterway
A Pictou fisherman of 30 years says Northern Pulp Mill’s successful injunction against those who’ve blocked mill survey boats is a blame tactic to hide the company’s lack of proper waste plan.
Nearly 100 people from various environmental groups, Pictou Landing First Nation, Pictou area residents and other supporters rallied outside the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax amid blowing snow on Tuesday afternoon.
The rally members said they were there to both support the fishermen named in the temporary injunction sought by Northern Pulp, and protest the mill’s plan to pipe 62 million litres of treated waste, or effluent, each day directly into the Northumberland Strait between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
“If we allow it, our fisheries die,” Pictou fisherman Donald Cheverie said in an interview, his gloved hands resting on a large sign reading ‘No pipe in the strait.’ “It’s poison.” Fishermen have been blocking the mill’s survey boats from scouting for a potential pipe location since this spring, leading to the mill’s move to file for a temporary injunction. That was granted by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Denise Boudreau on Tuesday, who said the fishermen have the right to “lawful protest,” but they don’t have the legal right to block the survey vessels from doing their work. Kathy Cloutier, a spokesperson for Northern Pulp’s parent company, Paper Excellence Canada, said in an email Tuesday that they are satisfied with the ruling.
“Our hope was that the sur- veying would be allowed to occur without incident or obstruction, however, actions indicated that the environmental assessment survey work would not proceed without the company seeking a court injunction,” Cloutier wrote.
The proposed pipeline has been loudly contested by environmentalists, local fishermen, Hollywood actor Ellen Page, the P.E.I. government and Indigenous residents of Pictou Landing First Nation near the Abercrombie, N.S. plant.
Cheverie said local fishermen are so concerned about the pipe because the Nova Scotia fisheries industry has “a lot at stake,” while he said Northern Pulp could “walk away scot-free” since the province is left with any cleanup.
The wider Gulf of St. Lawrence fisheries region is home to lobster and crab fisheries that brought in over $1.2 billion worth of catch in 2016.