This is my opinion on the matter

Grandpa always asserted that the truth was always somewhere in the middle.

He also said when you negotiate that everyone must leave the table a little hungry. Compromise is key except when there is a greater good to be promoted – then, always be sure of your research and your motives.

I want to save our traditional fisheries that are under siege.

I was so taken aback by a recent ‘letter’ from our MLA when he referred to the aquaculture industry. I found it condescending and disrespectful. Granted the small operations in our area have provided valuable employment, but nothing near what was initially promised.

Sites have left ecological deserts on the seabed. The ‘fragrance’ on the shore is unacceptable. Pen escapes can significantly harm the wild populations.

Then there are the nebulous ‘jobs’ that are quoted. From my perspective, the so-called job gain does not equal the potential losses in many fishing resource industries.

For starters our most lucrative entity – lobster. Let me give you a brief outline of the life of a lobster. The first few years of the life of Homarus Americanus are perilous. From the thousands of eggs laid, only a few lobsters numbering in the single digits may survive to legal harvesting size.

After carrying her eggs (as many as 100,000 of them depending on her age and size) for 9 to 12 months, the female lobster sheds them indiscriminately. Many are eaten before they hatch. The ones that hatch live in a larval stage, the size of a mosquito, undergoing three molts over a period of 15 days to a month. During this time, they float in the top few inches of the ocean and many are consumed by plankton-eaters. After the third molt, larvae seek a place to hide as they become miniature versions of an adult lobster. The very few that get to this stage could become none if farmed salmon is happening in their location.

The science tells us that the nurseries or incubators for Bay of Fundy lobster have had challenges. St. Mary’s Bay is a vital nursery. Our MLA, Gordon Wilson, talked about misinformation in his letter to the public. What I quoted above is indisputable science.

Note, I did not speak about chemicals used in operations that will attack and destroy the ability for mollusks, like clams and scallops, to form life-sustaining shells.

The sea plants, the clams and the scallops are at the mercy of a foreign multinational.

Land-based, closed confinement aquaculture is now the accepted international standard. Yeppers, the governments/ taxpayers of BC and NFLD are now cleaning up Cermaq’s messes. The constitutional inequity is obvious. The federal government has in the past said no to open pen farms in B.C. (and talks about transitioning the industry from open-net farming) but lets us opt into this devastating practice? This is not acceptable.

It’s my opinion, but I hope I have started a discussion.