The State of the Province, and How We Got Here DRAWING
LESSONS FROM NOVA SCOTIA’S HISTORY
NOVA SCOTIA’S FAMOUS IVANY REPORT-
The Report of the Nova
Scotia Commission on
Building Our New Economy
February 2014
SECTION I
Now or Never: An Urgent Call to Action for Nova Scotians
Acknowledgments ...................................................................iii
Commissioners’ Foreword...................................................... iv
Table of Contents..................................................................... ix
A. Introduction...................................................................1
B.
Findings from Public Engagement...............................5
C.
State of the Province and How We Got Here ............. 11
D.
Assets and Opportunities ..........................................35
E.
New Goals for Nova Scotia........................................45
F.
Game Changers..........................................................51
G.
Exemplary Initiatives...................................................65
H. Conclusion..................................................................69
SECTION II
Research and Engagement Documentation
Table of Contents.................................................................... 73
A. Introduction................................................................. 75
B.
Snapshots of Our Economy........................................76
C.
Research Findings.......................................................94
D.
Public Engagement...................................................212
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EDITORIAL: New immigration streams should boost growth
Published September 30, 2015 - 5:31pm
Last Updated September 30, 2015 - 5:47pm
Last Updated September 30, 2015 - 5:47pm
Nova Scotia, as the Ivany
report ably showed, urgently needs both immigrants and more entrepreneurs.
Two
new business immigration streams announced by the Liberal government on Tuesday should be helpful on both
counts.
One
stream will be for foreign entrepreneurs with money to invest in businesses in
the province, the other for international graduates of Nova Scotia
post-secondary institutions who have started and are running businesses here.
It
makes sense. Why wouldn’t Nova Scotia want more people with experience running
businesses who want to immigrate and invest here? Why wouldn’t we want to keep
foreign students who have studied in Nova Scotia and then launched their own
companies here after graduating?
Starting
next year, both streams will be part of the provincial nominee program, a
vehicle for provinces to nominate immigrants for expedited permanent residency.
Each of the new streams will have up to 50 nominees.
Ottawa
almost doubled Nova Scotia’s nominee program cap this year, to 1,350
individuals. Last year, Nova Scotia overall received more immigrants — 2,670 —
than in any year in the last decade. Statistics Canada has also reported the
province is successfully retaining more immigrants; between 2007 and 2011, Nova
Scotia kept 71 per cent of immigrants who first arrived here.
Tuesday’s
announcement was welcome news, underlining the efforts of Premier Stephen
McNeil’s government, in particular Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab and
her department, to grow the number of immigrants coming to and settling in Nova
Scotia who will also contribute to economic growth in the province.
The
international graduate entrepreneur stream is the first of its kind in Canada,
said Ms. Diab.
Wadih
Fares, co-chairman of the premier's immigration advisory council formed last
year, made an excellent point at this week’s announcement. The new streams will
help with both demographics and economic growth, he said, and also show Nova
Scotia is becoming a leader on immigration in Canada. But, he added, they’re
hardly enough.
“We’re
going to keep working very hard, and leveraging this momentum that we have,
until people everywhere are saying, ‘Look what Nova Scotia is doing for
immigration,’” said Mr. Fares.
In
the One Nova Scotia Commission’s 2014 report, the
Ray Ivany-led committee warned Nova Scotia faces a demographic cliff, with
sharp declines expected in coming decades in the number of working Nova
Scotians and corresponding drops in economic activity.
To
help counter those trends, the Ivany report called for targets of 7,000 new
immigrants a year and convincing at least 10 per cent of foreign university
students to stay after they graduated, as well as increased efforts to boost
entrepreneurship and business startups.
----
Ivany Report provides environmental roadmap, commission member says
TOM AYERS
CAPE BRETON BUREAU
Published August 10, 2014 - 7:20pm
Published August 10, 2014 - 7:20pm
Economic development
doesn’t have to mean environmental degradation, although Nova Scotia’s history
tends to reinforce that notion, says the marine conservation co-ordinator for
the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax.
“The
Northern Pulp mill is the latest example of where people are seeing the
environment and their quality of life traded off for jobs and vice versa,”
Susanna Fuller said Sunday, one day after speaking at the Bras d’Or Lake
Stewardship Society’s semi-annual meeting in Baddeck.
Fuller,
who was a member of the Nova Scotia Commission on Building Our New Economy
headed by Ray Ivany, said one of the topics she focused on in Baddeck was
transformational change and regulatory excellence.
“I
work for the Ecology Action Centre, and people often tell me there’s nothing
about the environment in the Ivany report, and there actually is quite a solid
piece in there.
“We
really recognized in our consultations and in some of our polling that people
feel quite strongly about environmental protection and they have a lack of
trust in enforcement of environmental regulations.”
She
said that’s understandable with historical examples such as the coal mines,
coke ovens and steel plant in Sydney, the Westray mine in Plymouth and Northern
Pulp in Pictou.
Recent
public consultations on hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas also provided a
forum for people to voice their distrust of government and corporate actions
that demonstrate a bias for jobs over the environment, and Fuller said those
people are not wrong.
The
largest corporate fine in the last decade for breaching environmental
regulations was $500, a fact that feeds public cynicism.
A
recent report into aquaculture in Nova Scotia also found that cynicism, Fuller
said, but it made some good recommendations on how to get past that.
She
said she is hopeful that people can start to change that perception by
discussing the Ivany report and its recommendations in their communities.
Government
has a part to play, with more resources directed toward enforcement, Fuller
said, but citizens also need to move beyond dialogue and take action.
Another
way government can help is by taking immediate action on demographics.
That
includes stabilizing the population and labour force, possibly through
immigration.
“I
don’t think people really understand that if you want education and health care
and roads — all these things we take for granted — we need to have tax
revenue.”
In
Baddeck, she said, some participants felt fracking might be bad, but coal might
have been “a whole lot worse.
“Putting
things in context, I think we have difficulty doing that, and I think it’s
because of this distrust.
“If
we felt that when an industry went forward that it would be regulated and the
benefits would come back to the community, then I think we’d be much less
averse to things changing.”
Fuller
said Nova Scotia has “huge potential” for sustainable economic growth in
natural resource extraction and manufacturing.
The
province has done a good job of protecting hardwood forests in Victoria County,
for example, but at the same time has developed policies that are strangling
forest product manufacturers.
With
proper regulation, it is possible to generate income for people while managing
wilderness resources, Fuller said.
“It
was something that I know 10 years ago, had we had more of a community forest
model, then maybe we could have had a discussion about let’s make sure we’re
taking these high-value woods in a selective way so that we are producing
high-value export products.
“I
wouldn’t say we did too good of a job (protecting forests). I would say there
were trade-offs made, particularly with the larger forestry industries who
wanted softwood stands.”
Instead,
she said, Nova Scotia could be looking at other ways to generate income
sustainably from the forest through carbon storage and tourist trail
development.
British
Columbia and New Zealand are good examples of places where the economy and the
environment are not always at odds, Fuller said.
“Too
often people say the wilderness stuff is terrible, it’s stopping economic
development. It’s just an attitude shift.”
---------
Queen Elizabeth II- Nova Scotia Canada
--------------
RITA MACNEIL- SHE'S CALLED NOVA SCOTIA-2008
----------------
OCTOBER- Mi'Kmaq Treat Month in Nova Scotia- CANADIANS IDLE NO MORE...
BLOGSPOT:
IDLE NO
MORE CANADA- MI'KMAQ MONTH IN NOVA SCOTIA- 11,000 years- We mourn Albino Moose
murdered- must learn Mi'kmaq nature's way pls./Some fall fun Annapolis
Valley/Good Books/Mi'kmaq traditions, history and videos
Queen Elizabeth II- Nova Scotia Canada
--------------
RITA MACNEIL- SHE'S CALLED NOVA SCOTIA-2008
----------------
OCTOBER- Mi'Kmaq Treat Month in Nova Scotia- CANADIANS IDLE NO MORE...
BLOGSPOT:
IDLE NO
MORE CANADA- MI'KMAQ MONTH IN NOVA SCOTIA- 11,000 years- We mourn Albino Moose
murdered- must learn Mi'kmaq nature's way pls./Some fall fun Annapolis
Valley/Good Books/Mi'kmaq traditions, history and videos
--------------
T
Nova Scotian Mi’kmaq hail treaty education vow
“They
say to us, ‘How can you prove you were here?’”
The
interactive atlas being unveiled Thursday — every Oct. 1 is Treaty Day — helps
answer that question.
Europeans,
for example, may have long ago christened a settlement on what would become
known as the Northumberland Strait as Wallace. But to the First Nations, that
place is known as Pemstk, which means “blowing along.”
It
stands to reason that before the American planters named a sweet little harbour
on the southwestern tip of the province Yarmouth, the Mi’kmaq referred to the
place as Malikiaq, which translates into “winding and turning every which way.”
White
men, as well, have been coming to Canso since the 16th century. But the Mi’kmaq
have called it Qamso’q, “across a body of water,” for as long as historical
documents show or anyone can remember
It
seems, on the face of it, unlikely that the Mi’kmaq referred to Pictou County’s
Harbour Point as I-tli-kikia’tmik (“where people go to get drunk”) before the
Europeans arrived. But can the same be said for Grand Pre, the spiritual centre
of the Acadian nation? Starting at some unknown point in time, it was known as
Mskikue’katik, “at the great meadow,” by the folks who originally settled
there.
The
atlas, a team effort involving more than 100 academics, linguists,
archeologists and a host of researchers, can’t tell us everything about how the
Mi’kmaq people saw the world in long-ago times.
But
a close examination is revealing.
Place
names weren’t just names to aboriginal people.
They
told them where to hunt and fish. There was Kopitek, better known as Aylesford,
which in Mi’kmaq means “place of beavers.” Caribou River was known to the
Mi’kmaq as Mn’tmuaqnji’jk, or “at the little oyster place.” And E’se’katik, “at
the place of clams,” is known on most modern maps as Lunenburg.
They
told them where to find wood. Mitiaq, or “place of the poplar,” is today known
as Cap Le Moine.
And
they told them where to avoid. Scatarie Island, which the Mi’kmaq refer to as
Askataliank, just translates as “troubling.”
They
could even tell them where to go for a good time. The modern-day town of Digby
was called Weskewinaq, or “cheerful place.”
All
told, some 1,500 places have been collected by researchers, 700 of which are
identified in the atlas.
Those
names helped the Mi’kmaq find the ingredients they needed for their medicines
and the crystals they used to skin furs.
Sometimes
the place names commemorated a significant event. Take the small community of
Hectanooga, in the District of Clare. The story goes that a Mi’kmaq man was
roasting a wild dog on a spit when some friends arrived by canoe. He ran over
to greet them.
One
of the newcomers noticed that in his excitement he had left his dinner over the
fire. And so the place became known as Kti nu’kwa’t, or “your dog is burning.”
The
atlas, it goes without saying, is a milestone for the First Nation community.
Francis says the old place names were disappearing. Now the website is a living
thing, adding new names as they are unearthed.
Every
little bit helps, says Mi’kmaq historian and author Danny Paul, who notes the
number of bands that have recently returned to the traditional spellings of
their names in this province.
That’s
a positive step. What angers him is the lack of headway on another name-themed
issue: getting the name of Edward Cornwallis — the founder of Halifax who paid
New England Rangers for Mi’kmaq scalps — off any Nova Scotia public spaces.
“We
keep hitting a brick wall,” Paul says.--
--------
SUSTAINABLE FISH FARMING
N.S. company casts off with land-based salmon
Firm gets kudos from Ecology Action Centre for its technology
KEITH DOUCETTE THE CANADIAN PRESS
A Nova Scotia company has succeeded in raising Atlantic salmon in a fish farm on dry land, and environmentalists are urging government to support and promote the fledgling technology in a market currently dominated by larger ocean-based operations.
This week, Sustainable Fish Farming is shipping its first fish under the brand name Sustainable Blue to stores and restaurants across the province.
It's a major breakthrough for the Centre Burlington, Hants County, company, which has been developing a closed containment system using salt water for the past eight years at its facility near the Bay of Fundy.
‟They've really cracked it for Atlantic salmon," said Rob Johnson, the sustainable seafood coordinator for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre.
Johnson describes Atlantic salmon as the ‟holy grail" of sustainable seafood because the market is dominated by fish raised in open-net ocean pens or cages.
He says Sustainable Blue is notable because the company has proprietary technology that's been demonstrated to work, defying an industry that has long questioned the commercial viability of landbased farms.
Johnson said there's a specific opportunity in Nova Scotia, where the company has developed ‟world-leading technology." ‟Government would be well advised to be supportive of leading edge technology . . . to really aid in the development, commercialization and distribution of this technology," he said.
Reached in Toronto, where he was exploring a market opportunity with a restaurant group, CEO Kirk Havercroft said his company has received financial help in the form of repayable loans from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the province.
But he said land-based producers overall should get more support.
Havercroft said his company's research indicates there is demand for up to 40,000 tonnes per year of land-produced salmon in North America.
Little supply is available Havercroft said, adding his company is currently able to produce 100 tonnes per year and is working to expand to 165 tonnes by next spring.
‟That for me is the story for government," said Havercroft. ‟Finance the alternative as well, put some money into it and give consumers a choice." Despite what's seen as a potential technological edge because it produces salt water fish, Sustainable Blue is not the only company providing consumers with landraised Atlantic salmon.
An economic initiative by the Namgis First Nation in British Columbia has been supplying Canadian and U.S. markets since April 2014 with fish under the brand name Kuterra.
Johnson said the Danish company Atlantic Sapphire is also poised for production this fall and another Nova Scotia company, Canaqua Seafoods , which has successfully farmed Arctic char and halibut, is working with Atlantic salmon as well.
Matthew Abbott, of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said it takes effort to get closed containment farms off the ground and there is at least room for support through government regulations.
‟I think many of the real costs associated with open-net pen farming are being borne by the environment instead of producers," said Abbott. ‟I think there's a real question of appropriate regulation of open-net pens and that would level the playing field." New regulations for Nova Scotia's aquaculture industry are expected to be released next month.
They will include the process for licensing aquaculture operations said Keith Colwell, Nova Scotia's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
‟A closed containment facility is going to be a whole lot easier to attain than, for instance, if you are going to set up an ocean pen-fish operation," said Colwell, although he didn't reveal details.
Colwell also stressed the province remained open to ‟all types of aquaculture."
Government would be well advised to be supportive of leading edge technology . . . to really aid in the development, commercialization and distribution of this technology.
Rob Johnson Sustainable seafood co-ordinator, Ecology Action Centre
Sustainable Fish Farming Canada employee David Roberts feeds sea bream at the company's fish farm in Centre Burlington, Hants County, in August 2012. RYAN TAPLIN Staff
------
--------
SUSTAINABLE FISH FARMING
N.S. company casts off with land-based salmon
Firm gets kudos from Ecology Action Centre for its technology
KEITH DOUCETTE THE CANADIAN PRESS
A Nova Scotia company has succeeded in raising Atlantic salmon in a fish farm on dry land, and environmentalists are urging government to support and promote the fledgling technology in a market currently dominated by larger ocean-based operations.
This week, Sustainable Fish Farming is shipping its first fish under the brand name Sustainable Blue to stores and restaurants across the province.
It's a major breakthrough for the Centre Burlington, Hants County, company, which has been developing a closed containment system using salt water for the past eight years at its facility near the Bay of Fundy.
‟They've really cracked it for Atlantic salmon," said Rob Johnson, the sustainable seafood coordinator for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre.
Johnson describes Atlantic salmon as the ‟holy grail" of sustainable seafood because the market is dominated by fish raised in open-net ocean pens or cages.
He says Sustainable Blue is notable because the company has proprietary technology that's been demonstrated to work, defying an industry that has long questioned the commercial viability of landbased farms.
Johnson said there's a specific opportunity in Nova Scotia, where the company has developed ‟world-leading technology." ‟Government would be well advised to be supportive of leading edge technology . . . to really aid in the development, commercialization and distribution of this technology," he said.
Reached in Toronto, where he was exploring a market opportunity with a restaurant group, CEO Kirk Havercroft said his company has received financial help in the form of repayable loans from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the province.
But he said land-based producers overall should get more support.
Havercroft said his company's research indicates there is demand for up to 40,000 tonnes per year of land-produced salmon in North America.
Little supply is available Havercroft said, adding his company is currently able to produce 100 tonnes per year and is working to expand to 165 tonnes by next spring.
‟That for me is the story for government," said Havercroft. ‟Finance the alternative as well, put some money into it and give consumers a choice." Despite what's seen as a potential technological edge because it produces salt water fish, Sustainable Blue is not the only company providing consumers with landraised Atlantic salmon.
An economic initiative by the Namgis First Nation in British Columbia has been supplying Canadian and U.S. markets since April 2014 with fish under the brand name Kuterra.
Johnson said the Danish company Atlantic Sapphire is also poised for production this fall and another Nova Scotia company, Canaqua Seafoods , which has successfully farmed Arctic char and halibut, is working with Atlantic salmon as well.
Matthew Abbott, of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said it takes effort to get closed containment farms off the ground and there is at least room for support through government regulations.
‟I think many of the real costs associated with open-net pen farming are being borne by the environment instead of producers," said Abbott. ‟I think there's a real question of appropriate regulation of open-net pens and that would level the playing field." New regulations for Nova Scotia's aquaculture industry are expected to be released next month.
They will include the process for licensing aquaculture operations said Keith Colwell, Nova Scotia's Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
‟A closed containment facility is going to be a whole lot easier to attain than, for instance, if you are going to set up an ocean pen-fish operation," said Colwell, although he didn't reveal details.
Colwell also stressed the province remained open to ‟all types of aquaculture."
Government would be well advised to be supportive of leading edge technology . . . to really aid in the development, commercialization and distribution of this technology.
Rob Johnson Sustainable seafood co-ordinator, Ecology Action Centre
Sustainable Fish Farming Canada employee David Roberts feeds sea bream at the company's fish farm in Centre Burlington, Hants County, in August 2012. RYAN TAPLIN Staff
 | |||
------
Shell pledges to be good neighbour in Nova Scotia
The
dynamically positioned Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit which Shell plans
to use to drill the first exploration wells offshore Nova Scotia.
I grew up in a small Newfoundland town knowing almost all of my 200 neighbours. Now I work for a company that employs some 90,000 people and operates in more than 70 countries. I have been fortunate that my career has taken me to many of these countries, but no matter how far I travel, the values I was taught growing up on Canada’s East Coast always stay with me. Values like the importance of community and being a good neighbour.
Quite rightly, Nova Scotians expect that companies operating in their province do so responsibly. People want the economic benefits that come with oil and gas exploration and the economic growth that would occur if oil and gas is found; but Nova Scotians deserve to be assured that the environment will be protected and that a company like Shell will operate respectfully alongside other longstanding staples of the Maritimes, such as fisheries and tourism. Because that’s what a good neighbour does.
Pending approval from the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB), Shell will begin drilling the first of two exploratory wells in Nova Scotia deep water in 2015. The two wells will be located in the Shelburne Basin about 250 kilometres offshore Halifax.
Shell’s experience operating in the Nova Scotia offshore dates back some 50 years, and we have participated in 77 of the more than 200 wells drilled here. For the Shelburne wells, we have combined this knowledge with the more than 30 years of experience operating in deep water around the world to design an exploration program that incorporates international best practices.
We will be using one of the most state-of-the-art drillships available in the world, the Stena IceMAX, for Shelburne. When it begins operating here, half of the crew will be Canadians, many from Nova Scotia. As well, most of the crew of the IceMAX’s four supporting vessels, which you may have seen in Halifax Harbour recently, are Nova Scotian.
Being a good neighbour also means listening. There have been some questions recently about our Shelburne emergency response plan. I want Nova Scotians to know that our first and most important priority is taking the necessary precautions to drill safely. That’s why every well must meet strict standards and go through multiple reviews in Shell before we decide to move forward with the project. Plans also get reviewed by the external regulatory agencies prior to Shell being issued its approvals to operate.
The priority we place on safety and the considerable resources we put into prevention make an incident very unlikely. However, as an added precaution, we have comprehensive emergency response plans in place that would draw upon locally trained personnel and nearby resources to provide a rapid response to any incident. World-class, oil spill response equipment is available to the supply vessels and the standby vessel that remains with the drillship at all times and would be ready to respond immediately to an incident. Additional personnel and equipment can be provided through Eastern Canada Response Corporation within 24 hours; and, if required, Shell can mobilize resources from the international response consortium, Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL). To ensure our readiness, we regularly train our people and test our plans and equipment.
We are optimistic about the potential for this exploration program to open up new opportunity for Nova Scotia’s future. And as we prepare to drill the first exploration well offshore Nova Scotia in some 10 years, I can assure you that being a good neighbour by protecting Nova Scotia’s environment, operating safely and providing economic benefits is as important to my team as it is to me.
Lorraine Mitchelmore is Shell Canada president--
---
SUSTAINABLE ON LAND SALMON TANKS- ENVIRONMENT MATTERS IN NOVA SCOTIA- HELL YEAH
SUSTAINABLE BLUE
Salmon back on menus
Hants County firm's fish raised
Chef Chris Velden prepares dishes of salmon tartare for guests at a special function Tuesday night at the Courtyard Marriott Halifax. The event was to present and celebrate product from Sustainable Blue, a company that grows and harvests salmon on land.
ERIC WYNNE Staff
This eight-pound salmon was grown from fry only 12 months ago.
ERIC WYNNE Staff
See SUSTAINABLE on Page B02
FROM PAGE B1: SUSTAINABLE
four kilograms in about half the time of an open pen operation. And, says CEO Kirk Havercroft in a moderately scientific explanation, with less stress on the fish because of gradual salinization.
‟We have two tanks in the saltwater grow-out farm. They are connected to the water treatment system on both the saltwater side and the fresh water hatchery side, so we can choose which plant, either freshwater or saltwater, is doing the filtration on those tanks,” he said.
‟So as the fish transfer from the hatchery, they come over in freshwater and they remain in freshwater for approximately a week. Then, slowly, over a period of two weeks, we transfer their filtration system from hatchery to the saltwater side. So that introduces the salt slowly, to full salinity over a period of two weeks.” The process is designed to simulate what happens in the wild and to improve on the open pen method, in which smolts raised from eggs in freshwater are just dumped into saltwater.
‟(Our method) makes for a less stressed fish, and a less stressed fish means they don't go off their feed, they continue to feed throughout the process of transitioning to salt,” said Havercroft. ‟So we get improvements in the growth rate, and less stress means less mortality.” Sustainable Blue salmon will be sold at Pete's and a couple of other retail locations, as well as being shipped to stores and restaurants in Toronto. Havercroft thinks there is a pent-up demand for salmon among both chefs and consumers.
‟Since our decision to start farming salmon, in 2013, we've been . . . surprised at just how strong that feeling actually is,” he said.
‟We get members of the public saying, 'I don't eat salmon, but I will eat your salmon.' We get chefs saying, 'I don't serve salmon, but I will serve your salmon.' ”
A more sustainable way of farming fish was on display at a function in support of Sustainable Fish Farming, a company that grows and harvests salmon on land. ERIC WYNNE • Staff
I grew up in a small Newfoundland town knowing almost all of my 200 neighbours. Now I work for a company that employs some 90,000 people and operates in more than 70 countries. I have been fortunate that my career has taken me to many of these countries, but no matter how far I travel, the values I was taught growing up on Canada’s East Coast always stay with me. Values like the importance of community and being a good neighbour.
Quite rightly, Nova Scotians expect that companies operating in their province do so responsibly. People want the economic benefits that come with oil and gas exploration and the economic growth that would occur if oil and gas is found; but Nova Scotians deserve to be assured that the environment will be protected and that a company like Shell will operate respectfully alongside other longstanding staples of the Maritimes, such as fisheries and tourism. Because that’s what a good neighbour does.
Pending approval from the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB), Shell will begin drilling the first of two exploratory wells in Nova Scotia deep water in 2015. The two wells will be located in the Shelburne Basin about 250 kilometres offshore Halifax.
Shell’s experience operating in the Nova Scotia offshore dates back some 50 years, and we have participated in 77 of the more than 200 wells drilled here. For the Shelburne wells, we have combined this knowledge with the more than 30 years of experience operating in deep water around the world to design an exploration program that incorporates international best practices.
We will be using one of the most state-of-the-art drillships available in the world, the Stena IceMAX, for Shelburne. When it begins operating here, half of the crew will be Canadians, many from Nova Scotia. As well, most of the crew of the IceMAX’s four supporting vessels, which you may have seen in Halifax Harbour recently, are Nova Scotian.
Being a good neighbour also means listening. There have been some questions recently about our Shelburne emergency response plan. I want Nova Scotians to know that our first and most important priority is taking the necessary precautions to drill safely. That’s why every well must meet strict standards and go through multiple reviews in Shell before we decide to move forward with the project. Plans also get reviewed by the external regulatory agencies prior to Shell being issued its approvals to operate.
The priority we place on safety and the considerable resources we put into prevention make an incident very unlikely. However, as an added precaution, we have comprehensive emergency response plans in place that would draw upon locally trained personnel and nearby resources to provide a rapid response to any incident. World-class, oil spill response equipment is available to the supply vessels and the standby vessel that remains with the drillship at all times and would be ready to respond immediately to an incident. Additional personnel and equipment can be provided through Eastern Canada Response Corporation within 24 hours; and, if required, Shell can mobilize resources from the international response consortium, Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL). To ensure our readiness, we regularly train our people and test our plans and equipment.
We are optimistic about the potential for this exploration program to open up new opportunity for Nova Scotia’s future. And as we prepare to drill the first exploration well offshore Nova Scotia in some 10 years, I can assure you that being a good neighbour by protecting Nova Scotia’s environment, operating safely and providing economic benefits is as important to my team as it is to me.
Lorraine Mitchelmore is Shell Canada president--
---
SUSTAINABLE ON LAND SALMON TANKS- ENVIRONMENT MATTERS IN NOVA SCOTIA- HELL YEAH
SUSTAINABLE BLUE
Salmon back on menus
Hants County firm's fish raised
in indoor tanks; chefs impressed BILL SPURR FEATURES WRITER
bspurr@herald.ca @CH_BillSpurr
It's a big departure from refusing to serve salmon at all to having it on the menu all the time, but that's chef Chris Velden's plan.
The turnaround is entirely due to the availability of land-raised salmon from Sustainable Blue in Centre Burlington, Hants County, which will make its first commercial shipment on Friday and begin deliveries to restaurants next week.
Unlike aquaculture operations that raise salmon in open pens, or sea cages, and cause much handwringing about disease and pollution, Sustainable Blue salmon are raised in indoor tanks.
‟This is very exciting; it will change things for me because I'm right next door. Now, it will be a standard menu item with different preparations," said Velden, co-owner of the Flying Apron , located about 10 minutes from Sustainable Blue. ‟It's the best alternative to wild, and the only wild I can get is from B.C. and it makes no sense to me to fly salmon 6,000 kilometres." ‟It's the best thing that could happen to Nova Scotia to maybe turn this around, what's going on right now, and to make people think about the environment, about the state of the ocean." Velden was the chef at an event Tuesday night to introduce Sustainable Blue's product to industry people and guests at a downtown hotel. He prepared it four ways to demonstrate the product's versatility and to show that it is leaner than other farmed fish. ‟We have a raw, we have smoked, we have poached and pan-seared," he said. ‟So, a tartare with just a little truffle oil on it, lime and salt and pepper and that's it. The smoked is from St. Mary's, and I made a cracker with rosemary to go with it. The poached one is done in white wine from Jost, and we did an herbed sour cream with that. The pan-seared one is with fresh peach salsa." Sustainable Blue, which says it has ‟rewritten the book on sustainable fish farming," can clean and recycle 500 metric tonnes of water per hour.
The facility near the Avon Estuary has 12 tanks on the hatchery side of the operation and nine on the ‟grow-out" side, where fish are raised from smolts to market size. Two ‟super" tanks are under construction and when they're finished in six months, the facility will have an annual capacity of 165 tonnes of salmon.
Sustainable Blue says it can bring a salmon to market size of
CONTINUED ON B2
bspurr@herald.ca @CH_BillSpurr
It's a big departure from refusing to serve salmon at all to having it on the menu all the time, but that's chef Chris Velden's plan.
The turnaround is entirely due to the availability of land-raised salmon from Sustainable Blue in Centre Burlington, Hants County, which will make its first commercial shipment on Friday and begin deliveries to restaurants next week.
Unlike aquaculture operations that raise salmon in open pens, or sea cages, and cause much handwringing about disease and pollution, Sustainable Blue salmon are raised in indoor tanks.
‟This is very exciting; it will change things for me because I'm right next door. Now, it will be a standard menu item with different preparations," said Velden, co-owner of the Flying Apron , located about 10 minutes from Sustainable Blue. ‟It's the best alternative to wild, and the only wild I can get is from B.C. and it makes no sense to me to fly salmon 6,000 kilometres." ‟It's the best thing that could happen to Nova Scotia to maybe turn this around, what's going on right now, and to make people think about the environment, about the state of the ocean." Velden was the chef at an event Tuesday night to introduce Sustainable Blue's product to industry people and guests at a downtown hotel. He prepared it four ways to demonstrate the product's versatility and to show that it is leaner than other farmed fish. ‟We have a raw, we have smoked, we have poached and pan-seared," he said. ‟So, a tartare with just a little truffle oil on it, lime and salt and pepper and that's it. The smoked is from St. Mary's, and I made a cracker with rosemary to go with it. The poached one is done in white wine from Jost, and we did an herbed sour cream with that. The pan-seared one is with fresh peach salsa." Sustainable Blue, which says it has ‟rewritten the book on sustainable fish farming," can clean and recycle 500 metric tonnes of water per hour.
The facility near the Avon Estuary has 12 tanks on the hatchery side of the operation and nine on the ‟grow-out" side, where fish are raised from smolts to market size. Two ‟super" tanks are under construction and when they're finished in six months, the facility will have an annual capacity of 165 tonnes of salmon.
Sustainable Blue says it can bring a salmon to market size of
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Chef Chris Velden prepares dishes of salmon tartare for guests at a special function Tuesday night at the Courtyard Marriott Halifax. The event was to present and celebrate product from Sustainable Blue, a company that grows and harvests salmon on land.
ERIC WYNNE Staff
This eight-pound salmon was grown from fry only 12 months ago.
ERIC WYNNE Staff
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four kilograms in about half the time of an open pen operation. And, says CEO Kirk Havercroft in a moderately scientific explanation, with less stress on the fish because of gradual salinization.
‟We have two tanks in the saltwater grow-out farm. They are connected to the water treatment system on both the saltwater side and the fresh water hatchery side, so we can choose which plant, either freshwater or saltwater, is doing the filtration on those tanks,” he said.
‟So as the fish transfer from the hatchery, they come over in freshwater and they remain in freshwater for approximately a week. Then, slowly, over a period of two weeks, we transfer their filtration system from hatchery to the saltwater side. So that introduces the salt slowly, to full salinity over a period of two weeks.” The process is designed to simulate what happens in the wild and to improve on the open pen method, in which smolts raised from eggs in freshwater are just dumped into saltwater.
‟(Our method) makes for a less stressed fish, and a less stressed fish means they don't go off their feed, they continue to feed throughout the process of transitioning to salt,” said Havercroft. ‟So we get improvements in the growth rate, and less stress means less mortality.” Sustainable Blue salmon will be sold at Pete's and a couple of other retail locations, as well as being shipped to stores and restaurants in Toronto. Havercroft thinks there is a pent-up demand for salmon among both chefs and consumers.
‟Since our decision to start farming salmon, in 2013, we've been . . . surprised at just how strong that feeling actually is,” he said.
‟We get members of the public saying, 'I don't eat salmon, but I will eat your salmon.' We get chefs saying, 'I don't serve salmon, but I will serve your salmon.' ”
A more sustainable way of farming fish was on display at a function in support of Sustainable Fish Farming, a company that grows and harvests salmon on land. ERIC WYNNE • Staff
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