The province is reviewing five proposed aquaculture sites in Argyle.
The five applications are in the Aquaculture Development Area, which the municipality and province announced in April, 2024.
The ADA includes 53 pre-approved sites for marine and plant-based aquaculture in areas off Argyle.
At community sessions Tuesday in Glenwood, provincial representatives talked about next steps for the five proposals.
If a proposal is approved, a mailout will be sent to property owners within 500 metres of a proposed site on 30-day public consultation.
The consultation will be done online and must be in relation to one of eight regulated decision factors.
The factors include optimum use of marine resources, economic development of the community, public navigation rights and other uses of the water.
Some residents say proper consulting wasn’t done
Many of the 50 or so who attended the two sessions in Glenwood felt the process of the ADA was not done fairly.
Concerns were raised about a lack of proper consultation by the Municipality of Argyle on the 53 proposed sites.
They say they felt blindsided when they learned this was happening.
But the province said Argyle did a good job informing residents of the ADA, and all questions on it should go to the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Resident Chris Thibedeau feels the province is just steam-rolling ahead.
“Most government programs invoke public consultation at the beginning, during the process and at the end. And it this case, it’s only at the end. Many in the community feel it’s too late,” said Thibedeau.
Thibedeau is part of the Association for Responsible Aquaculture in Argyle group, they’ve accused the municipality of several conflicts of interest in the project.
He thanked the province for coming to answer questions in a respectful back and forth, but says questions still remain on the alleged conflicts.
He says he supports aquaculture, but it has to be done fairly and away from people’s properties.
Provincial reps at the meeting said they could not answer questions on any potential conflicts of interest involving the municipality.
There were also concerns about some public consultation comments not being accepted by the regulator if they fall outside the determining factors of aquaculture.
Resident Corey Clamp says he’s going to be more attentive when projects like these pop up.
“I’ll pressure my elected representatives a little bit more, and share with people when I don’t get responses,” said Clamp.
He says he’s glad the province provided the information, and seemed to recognize that public engagement is important throughout a project.
Argyle denies accusations of conflicts of interest
Earlier this month, Warden Nicole Albright says the claims are false, and that the province was satisfied with the consultations the municipality did.
“Could we have done more? That’s possible, you could always do more, and there’s always something you could do better. After attending the recent Federation of Municipalities conference and hearing Prime Minister Mark Carney speak about how municipal units need self-reliance, it just re-enforced to me that we’ve done the right thing.”
She says there’s been loud negativity about the ADA, but a lot of quiet positivity.
“I encourage any resident to reach out to their councillor if they have concerns. It can be scary to have something new, but we have to think big picture. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to become Warden, because when this gets rolling, it’s going to help grow our municipality.”
