Can Port Mouton Bay accommodate an additional pressure that has been increased in sea? This question put the cpapcity of the port to test. According to local news source the provincial government’s recent purchase of the lands behind Carters and Wobamkek beaches and the promise to protect that area has seemingly placated many area residents into thinking the aquaculture issue is dead.
This proposal has many opponents that continue mounting within a growing society of both fishers and concerned individuals, The Friends of Port Mouton Bay, whose collective goal is to prevent the granting of this application. Besides there is scientific evidence to support the case that Port Mouton Bay cannot withstand the negative environmental impacts generated from such a colossal aquaculture operation.
Scientists have volunteered countless hours conducting studies that are turning out to support the local fishers’ theories, the foremost being that the bay lacks adequate flushing capacity required for open cage salmon farming. It is said that the idea is supported through observation of seabed drifters and mid-current “drogues,” released near Port Mouton Island. Bathymetric study shows the projected site to be a basin, an area of deposition, meaning that fecal matter and nuisance algae stimulated by dissolved nutrients collect in the basin and cover the seabed.
