Disease, Escapes, and the Future of Nova Scotia's Wild Salmon
Open net pen finfish farms pose many threats to wild fish populations and the wider near shore ecosystem. Compared with contained aquaculture systems, open net pen operations are significantly more likely to pollute marine ecosystems with excessive nutrient pollution through untreated waste, deplete oxygen levels and promote disease spread to wild marine populations due to intensive stocking, and release captive fish into wild populations through escapes.
Shellfish and algae aquaculture operations, though categorized and at times represented by the same associations as open net pen finfish aquaculture operations, are not as impactful to the environment or native commercial fish stocks.
Though these intensive finfish farms can bring economic opportunities to rural communities, albeit on a dramatically smaller scale than existing commercial fisheries, and have become particularly important to some indigenous communities in Canada, the lack of regulation and oversight in the industry and significant environmental impact have driven citizen-led protests across the country. In British Columbia, opposition to destructive open net pen aquaculture from both rural settlers and indigenous leaders has been so high that a recent federal court ruling upheld a decision to transition completely away from open net salmon farms by 2029.
So why are we still approving open net pen fish farms in Nova Scotia?
News coverage via CBC: “The Healthy Bays Network, an environmental group, says a federal government decision made last week should be implemented in Nova Scotia, where the regulations surrounding aquaculture are enforced by the provincial government. Paul Palmeter has the story.”
Enough Is Enough
Nature Nova Scotia is helping the Healthy Bays Network raise funds for educational initiatives that will share our concerns with more citizens and encourage Nova Scotia to transition away from open net pen aquaculture and towards more sustainable (and community owned!) aquaculture options.
In 2026-2027, the education and advocacy campaign will focus on two bays currently under threat by unchecked salmon feed lot development, Liverpool Bay and St Mary’s Bay:
Liverpool Bay
Healthy Bays Network founding member Protect Liverpool Bay (PLB), the Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative, and 23 local lobster harvesters are challenging a provocative ruling by Nova Scotia’s Aquaculture Review Board (ARB). Kelly Cove Salmon, a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture, the world’s largest privately held seafood company, applied to put two giant Open-Net fish farms* in the shallow waters of Liverpool Bay. On a bottle drive budget, with years of hard volunteer work, the community stood up and said no. At the last minute, and potentially avoiding defeat, Cooke put their proposal for two huge farms “on-hold” and asked instead for an expansion of an existing license. After a three day hearing, which cost the citizens in legal bills, the ARB approved the expansion and dismissed the community’s concerns. In March 2027, PLB and partners are appealing the ARB’s ruling to the Supreme Court of NS, but we need more Nova Scotians informed and engaging their representatives on this matter if we want to protect Liverpool Bay in the long term.
St Mary’s Bay
Healthy Bays is also backing the efforts of another founding member, the St. Mary’s Bay Protectors (SMBP). Allied with local commercial harvesters, tourism operators, businesses, and communities in Clare, Digby Neck and its Islands, and Annapolis, citizens are mobilizing against a subsidiary of Norway’s Haugland Group, which has proposed four huge new finfish feedlots in a prime lobster nursery for the Bay of Fundy and indeed the entire Gulf of Maine.
The Healthy Bays Network has independently raised $15,000 to launch this grassroots campaign but we need your help to make it grow. Help us host events, produce new website and print materials, and engage Nova Scotians in action. Our campaign will expand on past year’s work by utilizing social networks, community hall events, local papers, door knocking, pulpits and bingos, flyers, brochures, and lawn signs, debunking government-industry misinformation and awakening Nova Scotians to what’s really at stake, changing policy and consumer habits.
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