Norwegian salmon farm expansion in N.S. enters next stage

Norwegian salmon and trout farming company Haugland Gruppen has applied to the Nova Scotia government to operate four marine cage fish farms in St. Marys Bay, Digby County.

The move is the next step in the company's plan to expand in the province.

The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture posted notice of the application under the name Canadian Salmon Limited Thursday. The company's development plan and supporting documents were not made public. The department says it will be released after an initial screening.

The move from an option to scope locations to a formal application triggers a government review of the plan and will renew the debate over fish farming in the area two years after the last attempt ended, when B.C.-based Cermaq ditched a proposed expansion into Nova Scotia that included St. Marys Bay.

"I can certainly say that residents are frustrated by this," said Sandy Cove resident Gwen Wilson, a member of the St. Marys Protectors, a group opposed to fish farming.

Wilson says fish farms are polluting and displacing lobster fishing grounds.

'We are going to start small'

Canadian Salmon applied for four sites all on the Digby Neck side of St. Marys Bay.

Each would have 12 cages holding between 50,000 to 80,000 fish.

The first farm would be near where Digby Neck meets Long Island.

"We are going to start small. We're going to stock the cages with as little as fish as possible to make sure that we learn because every site is different," Canadian Salmon president Martin Karlsen said at an online public meeting last month.

The company did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.

In the online meeting it said the industry is sustainable, uses fewer pesticides and antibiotics, is less wasteful than in the past and represents an opportunity for the local community.

Input needed from feds, Mi'kmaq

"We will be requiring lots of services. There will be service vessels, barges and obviously jobs," Karlsen said.

There is no timeline for the provincial government review, which will include input from federal agencies like Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Mi'kmaw.

Once complete, the province will forward the application with comments to a newly created Aquaculture Review Board which must approve or reject it within a few months.

The province is obligated to implement the recommendation.

There is a salmon farm currently operating in St Marys Bay. Canadian giant Cooke Aquaculture, which has its own expansion plans in Nova Scotia, owns it.

Meanwhile Canadian Salmon can expect a campaign against it.

"We're 30 years into this. We have a salmon farm. That's why we're so against this. We've seen the results of these things with our own eyes decade after decade. So we know what we're in for and we'll fight this long as hard as we can," David Tudor, a municipal councillor in the area, said.