Lack of Aquaculture Transparency Raises Big Concerns in Small Fishing Community

Jordan Bay Community Press Release

Members of the Jordan Bay community are seeing red, after conflicting information was released by Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NSDFA) officials.

“We are fuming,” said Jordan Bay resident, Sindy Horncastle. “Our community received information from Cooke Aquaculture that, only a few weeks after the fish were stocked in Jordan Bay, they required a veterinary prescription for an undisclosed reason. All prescriptions are reported to the government. We made a simple request of the Aquaculture Department for this information and we were denied.”

The NSDFA did not respond to the community’s requests for information in both August and September about why the fish could be sick and what drugs the fish received.

However, according to Horncastle, a local online news site was given unsolicited information about the medications used in Jordan Bay, while the editor was working on another story.  “Our community had to resort to filing a Freedom of Information Request which took almost 2 months. I am curious as to why it appears that a fishing community cannot get information on what is being dumped in their lobster fishing area, when a media person gets an answer within hours.”

The  NSDFA gave the media information pertaining to the administration of fish medication in Jordan Bay. “After 2 months we finally received the answer to our FOIPOP request, the same day the media called me about the comments made to the editor by the NSDFA,” said Horncastle. “Our community was told by the Deputy Minister, Paul Lefleche that neither the NSDFA nor any government department had the information we requested. The media got an entirely different response. The editor was given information the government obviously had at hand. Does anyone in the Fisheries Department  know what is going on?  What are they trying to hide from us? This is unbelievable.”

Fishermen and coastal communities have raised concerns about the aquaculture industry’s use of pesticides in the marine environment because of the effects on other species. Cooke Aquaculture pleaded guilty in 2012 for the use of illegal pesticides that resulted in lobster deaths.

“We have lost all faith in the entire provincial department of fisheries ,” said Marilyn Moore, a Jordan Bay resident. 

“It appears as if the NSDFA withheld important information from our fishing community. Perhaps the next government will see the value in transparency.”