Saturday, 4 May 2024

Environment

Letter to the editor: Something fishy going on? A taxpayer-funded trip to Tasmania with Fisheries and Aquaculture minister Keith Colwell

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Letter by Wendy Watson Smith, president of the Association for the Preservation of the Eastern Shore: “We have just learned that Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell will lead a delegation of 18 Industry representatives and government officials on a taxpayer funded junket to Tasmania to investigate Marine Protected Areas in that part of Australia, and the feasibility of co-existence between finfish farms and a lobster fishery.”

Media release: Nova Scotia Ministry of Energy and Mines withholds toxic leak information

News release: “Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS) members, the 900 signatories to our petition opposing gold mining exploration or development in the French River Watershed and the population of Tatamagouche are shocked by the news that the Ministry of Energy and Mines has withheld information about a leaking exploration drill hole contaminating the French River Watershed area with arsenic and iron,” says SuNNS spokesperson John Perkins.

Matt Dort on Northern Pulp effluents and the Northumberland Strait: It’s about more than meeting (flawed) regulations

Matt Dort takes a close look at a recent Chronicel Herald story about Northern Pulp and the Northumberland Strait, and finds that it’s not simply a matter of meeting regulations. What if the regulations are flawed? What if there are other problems that aren’t even part of these regulations? What if the Strait is already at its maximum threshold for pollution?

John Collins to Premier Stephen McNeil: Don’t jeopardize our fisheries in the Northumberland Strait

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John Collins on Premier Stephen MacNeil’s response to a letter from the three Pictou MLAs: “I actually commend you for the courage and determination to stand up for what’s right and sticking to the legislated closure as implemented by your government in the ‘Boat Harbour Act’.  For the mill to even promote a continuance of this level of environmental racism by asking for an extension is an insult to Pictou Landing First Nations, and First Nations Peoples in general.”

PSA: Respect water, respect life − Stop Alton Gas

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PSA: “At this time it appears both federal and provincial governments are knowingly protecting Alton Gas instead of protecting fish habitat and Treaty Rights. This needs to stop now. The laws are in place, it is now your duty as the government to suspend all permits and charge the company.” 

How Clearwater broke the law but didn’t suffer the consequences

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As CBC’s Paul Withers reported yesterday Clearwater Seafood left thousands of lobster traps in the water for longer than the 72 hours allowed by law.
We’re not talking an extra day here because of bad weather. Sometimes baited and unbaited traps would be left on the ocean floor for as long as 98 days at a time, and this environmentally unsound practice has been going on at least since 2014. Breaking the law this way saved the company huge amounts of money. We talked with Shannon Arnold of the Ecology Action Centre to find out more, and what she told us is pretty alarming.