For immediate release
November 6, 2019
Aquaculture licence application required plan for warm water temperatures: Dinn
This week, the NDP Caucus has continued to seek answers on government’s handling of recent aquaculture events, emphasizing that there is no basis for the claim that the warm water temperature was unexpected or unforeseeable. A recent ATIPP request showed that a plan for warm water was actually required for Northern Harvest’s licence.
On Monday, the NDP critic for fisheries and the environment, Jim Dinn, said Northern Harvest intends to expand their hatchery to add 2.2 million fish to their South Coast open sea pens, which were excluded from government’s environmental assessment. Dinn questioned the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment on letting the case go to court rather than restart the environmental assessment, as requested by concerned groups.
Yesterday, Dinn reiterated, “Given the environmental disaster of 2.6 million salmon deaths in the Northern Harvest sea pens, and the fact that an additional 2.2 million salmon may be destined for the same pens, I ask the Premier, is he seriously considering proceeding with another costly court case instead of ordering a full environmental assessment that includes the open net sea pens?”
Today in Question Period, Dinn continued to question government on the handling of the massive salmon die-off, pointing out that the claim that the warm water event due to climate change was unexpected or unforeseeable, is false.
“Northern Harvest and the Minister of Fisheries have somehow claimed that the fish die-off was related to an unexpected warm water event connected with climate change. But in their licence application approved by the Minister’s department, the company was required to have a plan to mitigate against high water temperatures and low oxygen conditions,” Dinn said.
“Now how can the Minister suggest that the event was unexpected if the high temperature issue was supposed to be in the company’s plan?” Dinn said.
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For further information, contact Zaren Healey White, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), 693-9172 (c), or zarenhealeywhite@gov.nl.ca.