N.S. will expand rating system for aquaculture sites to include shellfish operations

The Nova Scotia government has announced that a coastal classification system that will rate areas for aquaculture suitability will be expanded to include shellfish operations like oyster and mussel farms.

The online platform is still under development and scheduled to go live in March 2025.

It was originally billed as a way to provide more transparency for fish farm sites like open-net salmon pens.

The expansion to include shellfish — and eventually marine plants like rockweed and kelp — was announced by the province's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture on Thursday at an aquaculture industry conference in Halifax.

"I hope it'll give the picture that there's science to support where aquaculture sites go and where they're not appropriate," Kent Smith told CBC News after the announcement.

$158M industry

Aquaculture landings in Nova Scotia were valued at $158 million in 2022. Most of that — $138 million — was generated by Atlantic salmon. Shellfish is very much the poor cousin with farmed oysters valued at $4.7 million and blue mussels at $1.5 million.

The shellfish sector has complained its expansion has been thwarted because it is subject to the same regulatory review used to assess marine fish farms.

"The amount of scrutiny through this process is out of proportion with the amount of risk," said Ernie Porter of Town Point Oysters.

The company has received approval to open an oyster farm in Antigonish Harbour, in northern Nova Scotia.

Local opponents led an organized campaign against the application, saying the oyster farm would ruin the watershed.

A quasi-judicial Aquaculture Review Board board eventually rejected opponents' claims of environmental harm but only after hearings that lasted several months,

"Oyster aquaculture and shellfish aquaculture in general is considered by industry, academia, and government to be high-value, low-risk, but it was forced through a process that would be appropriate for high-risk situations," said Porter.

Shellfish industry reaction to rating system

He and other industry business people were unsure what inclusion in the coastal classification system will mean for the shellfish sector.

"Potentially it could be good if this gives the public greater confidence that an area is suitable for the proposed operation. I can't really say much more than that at this point," he said.

"We're not quite sure. It's the first that we're hearing about it. I think it's really intriguing but we need to wait," said Michelle Samson of Premium Seafood Group.

Samson, who is also president of the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, said companies need to know more; for example if a suitability rating will differentiate between types of shellfish.

"I think it's more or less just understanding what the use case of including shellfish and marine plants is going to be. Is it going to be deciding that there are certain areas in the province that will be useful and certain areas that will be no-go for shellfish?" she said.