Newfoundland nickel processing versus aquaculture
Canada: The Newfoundland and Labrador government has approved a plan by Vale Inco to dispose effluents in a backwoods trout pond, adding much needed employment to Long Harbour. However, the company has to guarantee that effected fishermen and aquaculture interests are compensated for any losses.
It is any small amount of waste the company wants to dump, more than 400,000 tons per year.
Before operations of the CAD 2 billion project can start, the company still needs to wait for necessary regulatory changes to be made by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). DFO has to add the project to a list of mining sites currently exempted from rules prohibiting the destruction of fish habitat.
Environmentalists are not pleased with this decision and fear it will set precedence for other companies seeking similar permits across Canada.
A 2002 change to the federal Fisheries Act that allow Ottawa to classify natural water bodies as failing impoundment areas. The law change now requires mining companies that propose to dump waste into fish habitat in lakes and rivers to devise a plan to compensate for habitat loss. This means a plan has to be in place to compensate fishermen and aquaculture operators who suffer an economic loss as a result of the project.
The company is suggesting moving current fish out of the pond into two smaller ponds. Water till be added to these two ponds in order to create one new larger lake which can hold the extra fish. Environmental groups are skeptical to such a solution.
