Corner Brook man raising concerns about government "walking away" from conservation on the south coast

Keith Cormier says news reports from last year highlighted the deaths of hundreds of thousands of farmed salmon on the south coast and the documentary, “Rock, Plastics, Salmon” speaks of the effects the farmed salmon industry.  

A Corner Brook man is raising concerns after he says the provincial government walked away from the ongoing process for a South Coast Marine Conservation area and a National designation for the Park in Burgeo. Last Tuesday, Environment Minister Chris Tibbs issued a news release saying, “Given the potential risk to aquaculture, fishing and mining sectors and the viability of the communities who rely on them, the Provincial Government is unable to proceed with the feasibility assessment.” Keith Cormier says news reports from last year highlighted the deaths of hundreds of thousands of farmed salmon on the south coast. He says the documentary, “Rock, Plastics, Salmon” speaks of the effects the farmed salmon industry has had on the south coast. 

Cormier says furthermore, tourism is bigger at $15B a year, while the fishing industry is estimated at $980M. He says there was $100M on the books for this conservation area if it went ahead.

Cormier says Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands, territories and resources. He says most of the area is in the ocean which is a federal jurisdiction so maybe the provincial government can be bypassed or hopefully brought back to discussions.. 

Cormier says discussions on preserving the south coast started twenty years ago. He has written to all 41 MHA’s with government and has only heard that three have received his email. He’s also written to First Nations Chiefs, the Burgeo Community Indian Band and the Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief on this matter.