A photo of a Cermaq open pen facility. Photo: Cermaq
After a long search for potential salmon farming sites along the coasts of Nova Scotia, Cermaq Canada has announced they have decided to stop their plans to build facilities in Nova Scotia.
Cermaq says they failed to find 15-20 suitable locations for their sites and will allow the leases that allow them to study their viability to run out.
The company has always maintained that it would not set up in communities where they are not welcome. In order to determine how communities felt they hosted town halls across the South Shore. In the three events, our reporters attended the overwhelming sentiment was not in favour of Cermaq’s plans.
Linda Sams, Cermaq Canada’s sustainable development director said “We did hear opposition from some groups and regions, however; a shared path forward is, and always was our goal.”
Groups like the Twin Bays Coalition fought against Cermaq from the beginning, they claim that open-pen facilities like the ones proposed would cause catastrophic environmental damage.
Geoff LeBoutillier, of the Twin Bays Coalition, was pleased that the company honoured their word “It’s refreshing to see a corporation listen to the community, it was clear they weren’t welcome and they accepted that.”
LeBoutiller does still think this fight is long from over “The Minister of Fisheries (Keith Colwell) and the Premier have been clear that they want to develop aquaculture to the province, so I feel this is likely just chapter one in a very long book.”
