BY
GORDON DELANEY VALLEY BUREAU
Better waterway protection urged
BROOKLYN — The province’s new draft
regulations governing mink farming are not nearly strong enough, says the
Ecology Action Centre.
“The regulations are lacking in many areas,”
Jocelyne Rankin, the centre’s water co-ordinator, said Friday.
“We don’t think they will be sufficient to
prevent the kind of severe impact that we’ve seen on waterways in other parts
of the province, like the Meteghan and Tusket rivers.”
The province has been drafting new
regulations for the industry since approving the Fur Industry Act in 2010. They
are expected to be approved this summer.
The mink industry is growing fast in western
Nova Scotia. Most of the nearly 100 farms are located in Digby County, with a
handful in neighbouring Annapolis County. But this month alone, Annapolis
County has received 40 applications for building permits for new farms or
expansions to existing ones.
Dan Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Mink
Breeders Association, said he sees the county as an ideal place for the
industry to grow because of the high concentration of unused farmland.
He said the industry has become an important
generator of wealth for farmers and the province, which exported 1.4 million
mink pelts worth $120 million last year. It now makes up 33 per cent of the
province’s agricultural exports.
The Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture
also sees mink farming as a boon to the industry and believes the draft
regulations are sufficient to protect the environment, said president Beth
Densmore.
But Rankin said the regulations need to be strengthened.
“We want to see a tightening up and more
protection for waterways, groundwater and rivers. We are concerned that there
is no requirement for groundwater monitoring. We don’t think land application
of manure from the fur farms is an acceptable means of disposal.”
The centre also wants closed containment
systems for manure and waste water and “assurances that surface water will not
be mixed with any waste from the farms,” she said.
Vimy Glass, legislation co-ordinator with the
Department of Agriculture, said the regulations make it mandatory for every
farm to have a surface water quality monitoring program in place.
“Farms close to any water course are also
required to monitor upstream and downstream to ensure there is no impact from
the farm.”
Any tests that show levels above the
acceptable standards will trigger an investigation, with fines for violations
up to $1,000 per day. The regulations also place the burden on the industry to
develop waste management plans, which must be endorsed by professional
engineers, she said.
In addition, the regulations say liquid
manure systems must be contained, manure storage sites have to be 100 metres
from waterways and off-farm dwellings and the disposal of manure, waste, feed
and carcasses must be addressed before a fur farm licence is issued.
Colleen McGill of Brooklyn, lives close to
where a mink farm is being proposed. Like many of her neighbours she worries
that manure from mink operations being spread on farmland could contaminate the
Annapolis River. She and her neighbours also fear smells, flies and decreased
property values.
“We’re certainly not animal activists and
we understand the economic value of the fur industry in the province,” she
said. “I’d rather protect what we have than have it turn out like it did in
Yarmouth and Digby counties.”
A study by the Acadia Centre for Estuarine
Research earlier this year identified mink farms as the most likely source of
water quality problems in nine lakes in western Nova Scotia, particularly the
Carleton, Meteghan and Sissiboo watersheds in Digby and Yarmouth counties.
Annapolis County council has been struggling
with the issue since residents in Tupperville and Brooklyn presented a petition
asking for a halt to mink farm proposals in those communities.
With Frances Willick, staff reporter
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