Extensive damage caused to North Shore oyster lease after trees cut from coastline

The destruction of a 100-year-old oyster lease on the Island's North Shore has left an Island oyster fisherman heartbroken.

Robbie Moore, owner of MacMillan Point Oyster Farm in West Cove Head, says the damage off MacMillan Point Road occurred last year. He said it happened after an out-of-province landowner built a new home near his oyster lease and cut down all of the trees along the shoreline.

The landowner was fined, but the fisherman has been left with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.

"I was very angry. People don't realize what it takes to grow oysters. It's taken me five to eight years to harvest a crop," Moore said in an interview with CBC News.

"I didn't lose one year's worth of crops, I lost eight years' worth of crops of all stages and sizes — you know, everything from baby oysters to jumbos. I was heartbroken. You go through all that emotional stuff and I still get emotional about it today, right?"

Maximum fine $3,000

Moore captured the damage with photos and video. It was extensive.

Water was running through places where it had never been before, causing soil to spill into the water.

The grower said it has ruined his oyster beds.

The homeowner who caused the damage was fined $3,000 — the maximum allowed under current regulations.

But that is about to change. 

'One of the worst ones I've seen'

In the legislature on Thursday, Environment Minister Steven Myers said he is going to significantly increase the fine to a maximum of $50,000.

He said contractors involved in damaging watercourses will lose the special licence that lets them work in buffer zones.

The changes are expected to come into effect before the start of this construction season.

Myers used the word "sickening" to describe the mudslide that spilled into the water off Moore's oyster lease.

"This is probably one of the worst ones I've seen and one of the more blatant ones that I've seen. Not only did he tear every tree down that was in the buffer zone but he basically plowed right to the high water mark, and then we had some significant weather after that," he said.

"Quite frankly, I'm sick of people coming here thinking they don't have to follow our rules, and that's going to change."

Myers said he's seeking legal advice about whether he can compensate the oyster fisherman and have the landowner pick up the tab.

P.E.I. MLAs say what happened in West Cove Head is not an isolated case.

Cory Deagle, the MLA for Montague-Kilmuir, raised the issue in the legislature on Thursday.

"I've had people come to me and literally ask me, straight up ... 'Is the [$3,000] fine per tree? So if I cut down one tree, is it a $3,000 fine per tree? Or is it just the one fine for all the trees?'" Deagle said.

"Well, according to the law, it's just the one fine. So they say, 'Well, of course, I'll just cut down all of the trees and look at this view that I have for $3,000.'"

'It's just gut-wrenching'

Deagle described that attitude as a blatant disregard for the law and for the environment.

Moore said that in his case, there's no winner.

But he's happy to hear the fines will be increasing, which he says will ultimately help protect the environment.

"The oyster farm is a century-old oyster farm," Moore said.

"To see this sort of thing happen, it's just gut-wrenching, total disrespect for people and the environment."