Tag Archives: Cape Sharp
Cape Sharp Tidal turbine removed from water – Fishermen, “For us, it’s a total vindication,,,”
The Cape Sharp Tidal turbine has been removed from the Minas Passage, but plans to conduct testing at another location farther down the Nova Scotia coast have been cancelled. The company had planned to move the turbine in April from near Parrsboro to St. Marys Bay to do some short-term hydrodynamic testing. But a mooring line became entangled in it, so the move was postponed. Cape Sharp spokesperson Stacey Pineau said the company now has no plans to resume the testing in St. Marys Bay. The proposed testing had drawn opposition from some fishermen, who said no environmental assessment had been carried out for that work. Colin Sproul, of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association, said the removal of the turbine is “a positive development” because the company has not been able to monitor the equipment since the turbine was disconnected from the transmission cable two months ago. click here to read the story 18:52
Court challenge of test turbine could cost fishermen’s association
Fishermen who took the government to court may have to pay for it. Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy wants their legal costs to be paid by the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association after a judge dismissed a judicial review the company was involved in. The review was requested after environment minister Margaret Miller’s decision last June to greenlight Cape Sharp’s turbine deployment in the Bay of Fundy. So far FORCE is the only respondent to follow Justice Robertson’s invitation to file for costs, made when she was making her ruling in early April after a full-day hearing in February. “We’ve been advised that Cape Sharp is not seeking its costs,” said the fishermen’s association’s lawyer, David Coles, in an interview Wednesday. But the provincial government is still unsure of what its position will be, he said. Click here to read the story 20:33
Cape Sharp Turbine blamed for fish gouges in the Minas Basin
Fishermen have been finding sliced up or gouged gaspereaux and herring in their nets and fear the run of mackerel swimming up the bay is next. “I’m just starting to get some mackerel now,” Parrsboro fisherman Gerry Taylor said in an interview, adding there is also concern around the June herring run. “Then (Cape Sharp) will show up again and mess that up, too.” Cape Sharp, a company testing tidal power possibilities in the Bay of Fundy, has deployed several tugs and vessels in the Minas Basin to assist in the recovery of their turbine since mid-April, much to the frustration of fishermen who say the activity is disruptive to their season and their catches.,, Meanwhile, the turbine’s blades are still turning with the force of the tides, even though it has no power flowing to it. Fishermen are finding evidence of what they feared with the catches they’re getting in their nets: what’s being described as an unprecedented number of damaged fish —currently gaspereaux and herring — in the Minas Basin. Click here to read the story 11:21
