Elver poachers forced Nova Scotia Power to shut down hydro dam | 24CA News
An inflow of unauthorized elver harvesters prompted Nova Scotia Power to close down one in all its hydro dams final month, and the power stays on decreased hours due to ongoing unlawful fishing on the website.
The hydro dam in Head of St. Margarets Bay, on the mouth of North East River, has been the scene of nightly fishing for elvers, earlier than and after the authorized fishery was supposedly shut down on April 15.
Elvers, often known as child eels, are Canada’s most useful fish species by weight, promoting for as much as $5,000 a kilogram and are shipped dwell to Asia the place they’re grown for meals.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) was compelled to shut the elver fishery within the Maritimes due to an unprecedented enhance in poaching, which posed a threat to the species and the general public.
Nova Scotia Power stated the poachers have additionally created a security threat as they fish close to the hydro dam.
“Due to the proximity of this activity to our generating station on the St. Margarets Bay Hydro System, as well as safety concerns, we shut down generation at this site last month for about three weeks,” spokesperson Jackie Foster instructed 24CA News.
Foster stated electrical era has since resumed, however on a smaller scale and for a shorter time all through the day.
The firm has additionally posted further signage and has added extra safety on the website, she stated.
“We are monitoring the situation and will continue to take the necessary steps to reduce risk and increase safety at and around our facility,” Foster stated.
The North East River is one in all a number of assigned by DFO to be fished solely by industrial licence holder Atlantic Elver Fishery.
Stanley King of Atlantic Elver Fishery stated the corporate hasn’t tried to harvest on the North East River this season as a result of poachers have inundated the world.
He stated greater than 50 individuals have been on the river when the season opened earlier this spring.
The enhance in poaching has prompted Atlantic Elver Fishery and two different Nova Scotia industrial licence holders to accuse DFO of failing to implement the shutdown.
