BAYSWATER
BEACH
Bayswater Beach Provincial Park
Twin Bays Coalition (TBC) and local residents have begun preparing for an Aquaculture Review Board (ARB) Hearing.
The ARB Hearing will decide on an application by Kelly Cove Salmon to expand their site at Aspotogan Harbour, just over 1 km away from Bayswater Beach.
We want any concerns to be heard loud and clear at the ARB Hearing.
Aquaculture Review Board Hearing
Here's How to Help!
Local Residents!
Tell us your stories of how your life and the environment have changed since Kelly Cove Salmon took over this site in 2001.
Tell us how responsive Government has been to any complaints you have made about this site.
Everyone!
Tell your friends that we have an opportunity to change the future of this area.
Tell your friends to join or follow the Twin Bays Coalition through this web site, Facebook or Instagram.
Volunteer with Twin Bays Coalition.
Help us, help the Beach tell it's story...
Here's how we are preparing:
Local residents and TBC have created a multi-year diary of changes that have taken place at the Aspotogan Harbour aquaculture site over the years.
Complaints about the site over the years have been and continue to be collected from residents.
We have also worked to establish and improve our credibility through our involvement with the Healthy Bays Network (HBN).
Please check out our update video:
Aspotogan Harbour Site: Out of Bounds!
Since at least 2012, complaints about excessive noise from this site have been made. Nothing was resolved.
In 2016, the operator applied for an expansion of the lease area to include mooring arrangements and new cages. That expansion has not yet been approved by the ARB.
In 2018, the cages were changed and moved to a different location. Two of the circular cages are now outside of the approved lease boundaries. Complaints have been filed but no enforcement has taken place.
CHANGES...
With the change in the net pens came increased noise. Generators ran 24/7 for almost six months throughout 2020 to provide oxygen for the fish.
Bayswater Beach Provincial Park became covered in black slime just before the fish were harvested in the Fall. The smell was unbearable. Pets became ill after playing on the beach.
To get an idea of the extent of fouling on the beach, please watch a brief video.
What the video fails to convey is the unbearable smell that nauseated many of us. Nothing like this has been seen at Bayswater Beach in living memory.
Local residents complained to all levels of government but received confused and conflicting responses; if they received any response at all. The exception seemed to be the Municipality of the District of Chester which took interest in the plight of residents but were unable to assist because they did not have jurisdiction.
After almost a year of complaints to seven different Government offices, the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture commissioned a study into the condition of the beach. They concluded that the likely source of the black slime was the pond behind the beach.
BAYSWATER POND:
THE SCAPEGOAT
Regulators seemed unwilling to take a hard look at the fish farm. They needed another explanation for the environmental changes happening at the beach. The Bayswater Pond provided a convenient scapegoat...
The combination of a beach with a pond behind it is fairly common and has, in some circumstances, had adverse effects on the adjacent beach. In this case, however, the pond appears to be a very healthy ecosystem. It has been blamed for e-coli contamination on the beach but recent studies have not confirmed the pond as the source.
Unfortunately, the e-coli issue became confused with the separate and unrelated biochemical activity that caused the black slime on the beach. The sampling of the beach and sea bottom for the NSDFA study was very poorly timed. This helped to reinforce the plausibility of the pond being the culprit.
BAYSWATER POND:
THE REBUTTAL
In short, we found the conclusions in the study to be lacking.
The samples were collected long after storms had scoured the sea bottom and beach, removing any organic material. A nuclear analysis was conducted that concluded there was NO connection between the beach and the farm. That analysis was incomplete. It omitted information that appears to support such a connection.
You can read our response to the NSDFA Study and the study itself at the following links.
In November, 2021, the first open net pen finfish ARB Hearing was held for a proposed expansion of the Kelly Cove Salmon (KCS) facility at Rattling Beach, near Digby. This Hearing was a treasure trove of precedents.
We found out that KCS operated outside of approved lease boundaries for 17 years at that site. Sadly, this was not admissible as evidence. If the ARB approves the expansion, they will sweep under the carpet, 17 years of contravening the Provincial Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act.
We also found out that to attain the same level of representation as the Government and KCS, we would have to raise thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars to retain legal counsel. This does not seem inclusive and fair to our local residents or any others who might oppose these expansions.
BAYSWATER BEACH:
ARB HEARING
The ARB for the Aspotogan Harbour site has yet to be scheduled. It's only concern will be to decide on the expansion application made by Kelly Cove Salmon.
We will convince the ARB that the expansion should not be approved using the words and work of residents over the past several years.
Anyone, including non-residents, can help us accomplish that goal.
Aquaculture Review Board Hearing
We Need Your Help.
Here's How!
Although we already have many residents telling us of their experiences, there may be more.
If you have visited Bayswater Beach Provincial Park and have an open net pen story you'd like to share, please tell us!
If you know of folks who live nearby or visit the beach regularly, please share our story with them!
Even if you do not live nearby or visit the beach regularly, you can still help us by:
a. telling your friends that we have an opportunity to change the future for this area
b. ask your friends to join or follow the Twin Bays Coalition through this web site, Facebook or Instagram
c. volunteer with Twin Bays Coalition, and
d. lots of other ways that we will share with you over the coming weeks.
Help us, help the Beach tell it's story...
For more information on the ARB itself, please check out the ARB tab in the drop down menu for BAYSWATER.