By Karen Bradley with Richard Bell
“The Right to be Rural” was the provocative title of a talk on November 15 at the Musquodoboit Harbour Public Library by Dalhousie professor Dr. Karen Foster.
Foster ran through the litany of rural-put-downs by urban elites that we are all already too familiar with. But she also touched on some more recent ideas about how rural communities could create locally-based economies that don’t depend on the old boom-and-bust cycle of extractive industries like coal or gold, or the destruction of renewable resources like clear-cutting forests.
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Letter to the Editor from Kevin Clattenburg
Funny reading the Cooperatorhaving DFO scientists weighing in on kelp and seaweed about how great it is here when overharvesting was taking place at Pleasant Harbour Tangier and DFO was unaware. Thankfully us that live here complained and the situation was finally rectified 2 weeks later. Again DFO was abusing our waters; apparently an American company sold their license, and the new company was unaware of the heavy harvesting of the rockweed that already took place. I wonder how this will affect the baby lobster the lobster fishery in later years?
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The Cooperator will be hosting this resource page to pull together information from all sources on the school site selection process to replace Eastern Shore District High School. We will be including information from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Halifax Regional Education Center, the defunct Halifax Regional School Board, the Cooperator’s stories on the issue, and reports from grassroots groups and non-governmental organizations in the current catchment basin.
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By Fiona Brooks
The Nova Scotia Nature Trust is a non-government charity dedicated to protecting Nova Scotia’s natural legacy through private land conservation. Over the past 25 years, we have protected over 100 special places all across the province, from old growth forests to habitat for rare turtles. One of our most exciting campaigns is about protecting the 100 Wild Islands on the Eastern Shore.
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By Brian Murphy
[Editor’s note: In promoting the creation of a Marine Protected Area along the Eastern Shore, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has cited increased tourism as a potential source of new jobs and new businesses. But opponents of the MPA are questioning this assumption, raising questions about the impact of increased tourism, such as increased litter and habitat disruption.
Brian Murphy, has found himself the subject of an unfounded rumor that he supports creating the MPA to further the fortunes of his company, Murphy’s Camping on the Ocean. Murphy contacted the Cooperator, and shared lengthy emails he had written trying to set the record straight. This article is an edited version of two of these emails.]
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Only 3 more days left for a chance to win a $20 gift card from Sobeys, Tim Hortons, Superstore, or Starbucks. All you have to do is go online and fill out an anonymous survey for the Dalhousie-sponsored “SAMoSA Study” (an unlikely acronym for Spatial Accessibility to a Multitude of Services and Amenities.)
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The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has produced a draft "Ecological Risk Assessment of the Eastern Shore Islands Area of Interest" that concludes that
You can read the draft study here.
One of the core questions was whether establishing an Eastern Shore Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA) would limit, or even shut down, the local lobster industry. The inability of DFO to answer this question definitely contributed to the climate of suspicion and frustration in the fishing communities that could be affected. Responding to these concerns, DFO decided to accelerate the portion of the risk assessment dealing with the lobster industry.
By Richard Bell
In the debate over the proposed Eastern Shore Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA), there has been a good deal of confusion about the role of commercial fishing, like lobstering, in a designated MPA. This confusion is in turn a reflection of the federal government’s failure to adopt national standards for MPAs.
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DFO One-Pager on Eastern Shore Islands MPA
Fall, 2018
