"I plan on fighting this tooth and nail."
Neighbors of the Cooke Aquaculture facility on Shelburne Harbour and others concerned about the effect of unsightly properties in the area have taken to Facebook to complain about what has been described by some as an "outrageous" mess at the Sandy Point facility.
"I try to keep up my property and pay my taxes," Debbie Belong wrote on a the Shelburne Exchange Facebook group page. "I had a beautiful view and now this is what I see when I look out of my windows," she says about the chaotic collection of plastic fish crates, plastic tubing, wooden pallets, steel anchors, aluminium boats and other equipment visible from the busy road which leads to the county's most popular lighthouse and proven tourist attraction.
Cooke has also parked a number of massive empty salmon cages on the shoreline across from the Belong home.
"I am so disgusted," Belong added, explaining that they were ordered by the municipality to move items stored on thier property but into the woods and well out of sight to passersby while Cooke appears to be able to have their industrial detritus in full view of neighbors and the general public. She also noted in the Facebook post that the Cooke property and buildings were in "total disrepair". "What happened to all the money handed out to [Cooke], did they take it and run?"
Cooke Aquaculture was the direct beneficiary of a $25 million loan and grant program from the province in 2012, which was supposed to include the construction of a fish processing plant in the town and the creation of 340 full-time, well-paying jobs. Two years ago, Cooke announced it was reneging on that pledge.
"It's really an eyesore," said Tammy Jacklin on the Facebook page, "not only for the ones who have to look at it every day like you but the tourists and sightseers that drive by. Not a good representation of our area."
Debbie Belong said on Facebook that she and husband Leslie have lived in the area a combined 113 years and would not be pushed out by the deplorable condition of the Cooke facility. "I have no intention of leaving until I'm carried," she said. "I plan on fighting this tooth and nail."
Belong said she contacted several officials with the Municipality of Shelburne, but without any satisfaction in dealing with the issue.
Municipal deputy warden David Levy, who sits on the local Community Liason Committee for Cooke Aquaculture operations in the area, told SCT he contacted the Belongs after reading about the issue on Facebook. He has been in contact with Cooke executives and plans to meet with the Belongs in the coming days to see what help he might lend to a resolution of the unsightly property issue.
Cooke is a New Brunswick-based multinational corporation whose revenues exceed $1 billion and who specializes in industrial open pen salmon farms. The firm owns farms in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Chile, Scotland and Spain. A Cooke subsidiary in Chile has been named in a government report on the spread of the immune salmon anemia viris (ISAv) similar to the strain which devastated the Chilean industry in 2007, resulting in the slaughter of millions of fish and the loss of more than 7,000 jobs. Cooke has also suffered losses in many of its farms totaling millions of market-sized salmon from ISA, sea lice and super chill. The company has received millions of dollars in compensation from the Canadian government for losses from disease outbreaks.
Cooke executives have previously told reporters that the company prefers the relatively unregulated Nova Scotia to the more stringent environments in the U.S. and elsewhere.
SEE PREVIOUS STORIES ABOUT COOKE AQUACULTURE
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Federal quarantine for Cooke aquaculture in Shelburne, Nova Scotia
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Cooke Aquaculture charged by Environment Canada in illegal pesticide use
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Premier McNeil calling in Cooke loan?
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Cooke Aqua pays only $2 million of loan package
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Cooke Aquaculture eager to stock Jordan Bay cages
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Cooke Aqua sees continued disease in Chile operations
Comments
This matter is not limited to how this looks, although that is certainly a factor. Having a storage and repair facility that is open to and accessible, by the public , must present a health and safety risk, not to mention a potential invalidation of insurance where goods and property is not secure. It is unacceptable on so many levels, as is the current response from a company who is more than well supported financially by the tax payers in the province and immediate area , where Cookes show little and no regard for public concerns.
It's about time the folks at Sandy point are financially recompensed (from Cooke's personal funds not that provided through grants etc) Equally we should ensure access of their up to date accounts wrt to all the monies received / utiltised for inspection by the relevant authorities.
As noticed the cages have been moved to the "Kelly Cove" facility. These cages come from the Sandy Point Farm. The "barge" that supports this operation has now been moved north - closer to the town. What does this mean? An expansion to the Sandy Point Farm or is the sea bottom now so polluted in the previous area that they had to move it? This organization cannot be trusted, it promised big things for Shelburne and some of us, me included, drank the KoolAid, what a sucker I was. They have demonstrated, bad practices not just the whole scam of the NS investment that went to Scotland and Chile but the pollution that killed the lobster & fish by using a banned substance cypermethrin - hopefully not again used cleaning the cages at Kelly Cove.
If an expansion, is it sanctioned by DFO? Even just a move doesn't this need permission? Understood they already "stretched" the rules in Jordan Bay??
It is the Dept of Fisheries and Aquaculture (minister Keith Cowell) who approve leases, licences, etc. The Dept told me that the releativelky new Aquaculture Review Board will hold public hearings to evaluate all new marine site applications and significant changes to existing licences. Whether any changes to the subject site would be considered "significant" is anybody's guess. The last time this issue came up, a new site was deemed by the minister as an "existing site" and he was adamant that no public consultation was required. It apears that the current government is not a fan of the transparency provisions outline in the Doelle-Lahey Report.
We all walked into this like blind mice, well I did. But I really hoped after the defeat of fascism at the last fed election that we elected a government that would do things differently but here we are again, at 70 yrs old - naive again and same old. As someone who drove a big old 1976 400cu in Cougar XR7 back then with a bumper sticker that said "Trudeau must Go" (that's the Sr version) and got to see a really good politician and man and a great red tory Joe Clark elected and then go dumb (yup he pucked up!) and we were back with c$r$a$p again. Here we go again - junior who I voted for is not there, where is "Canada first" why am i spending my taxes to fund feminist groups in the 3rd world when our first nations have huge issues, and while, where about it, just recently spending 7 (yes SEVEN) hours in the emergency and leaving without any healthcare? I know, this is not the forum but this is emblematic of our government just not caring. Bernadette Jordan does not return email nor does McNeil - where do you go - also as someone else says the Municipality of Shelburne is a dead hole. Rant over - not where of if this gets posted but we're angry!!
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