South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson is assuring the community a proposed Aquaculture farm on the Bruce Peninsula would not go ahead if there were water contamination concerns.
Very little has been said so far about a proposed fish farm by Berford Lake, north of Wiarton that may eventually draw water in and out of Colpoy’s Bay.
A citizen action group website called smellsfishy.org is concerned there would be water contamination and other environmental impacts as well as noise, increased commercial traffic and possible effects on surrounding property values.
Jackson says, “The one thing that I can say from experience is the Ministry would not allow anything– a drop of contaminant to go into that bay. I can tell you that right now, and I can tell you that the First Nations won’t either and neither will the municipality.”
She explains, because it is a private business that has purchased the parcel of land, council cannot comment on it.
Jackson says she has, however encouraged the company to release a statement to the community providing information about itself and its plans.
“The company did purchase land up around Berford Lake area and they’ve been working through all of their permissions and things with the different levels of government. It’s a private business so we’re not at liberty to discuss it until they’re ready to discuss it. It’s something that we certainly can’t jump out there and let everybody know what this business is planning on doing, they have to make the first move and announce it when they’re ready to announce it,” says Jackson.
Jackson says it’s likely a statement from the company will come out in the very near future.
She adds, based on recent discussions, the company had reportedly planned on going to the community in about a month with, “quite a lot of details and information on their proposed project.”
Jackson says the project still has to be approved by numerous entities, including ministries and Saugeen Ojibway Nation.
Jackson says, “Unless everything is all ‘tickety-boo,’ (alright) nothing is going to happen up there and honestly, if this thing gets going and operational, I can assure you that they will have constant monitoring around the clock and that’s why I don’t want anybody to be panicking right now, because if this project even moves forward, it will be heavily, heavily monitored. There’s no question.”
The Ontario Aquaculture Association says the industry contributes about $122 million to the economy and produces over 106 million seafood meals in Ontario in a year.
Meanwhile, the company with a proposal in South Bruce Peninsula had not released a statement at the time this story was published. As of 6 p.m. Monday, inquiries have been sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry along with the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks, Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s Environment Office, as well as a company believed to have been involved in the purchase of the land.