June 28-July 4 2021
July 4 , 2021 - GBIG news release: more of the same - only raising more questions
On June 18 Georgian Bay Innovation Group issued a news release and it is available on their website:
https://gbigroup.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GBIG-UPDATE-June-18.pdf
Bearing in mind the fact that the mayor, council, nor Georgian Bay Innovation Group had no intention of notifying the public of this project for at least another month the release attempts to mitigate residents growing concern and opposition to a fish factory at 83 Berford Lake Rd., just north of Wiarton.
Ontario’s current total aquaculture industry produces approximately 6000 metric tons per year but we anticipate that the 500,000 square foot facility proposed will have designs to produce two and a half times that amount -15,000 metric tons per year?
It is our position that the establishment of an industry of this magnitude will not come without heavy environmental and ecological cost. The positive socioeconomic impacts stated by the company are minimal at the very best and do not assimilate well with what life in “The Bruce” is, and why people choose to live or are moving here.
In an article published by CTV news January 16, 2021: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-leaving-big-cities-in-record-numbers-statistics-canada-1.5270161
Statistics Canada reports that “Canadians (are) leaving big cities in record numbers”. People are moving to “suburbs, smaller towns and rural areas.” This mass exodus from “the big cities” has already driven property values in the Bruce to soar.
-Is it reasonable to suggest that people are leaving the cities to escape the noise, pollution, traffic and general congested lifestyle for more idyllic living in the Bruce for the way it is and not or what some would have it become?
-are we really expected to believe that the presence of industry will appreciate real estate values in an area embraced and enjoyed for its natural rugged beauty, relaxed lifestyle and pristine waters of the bay?
-why would GBIP not elect to set up in the very heart of where the demand for their product exists?
-is it the need to exploit the clean waters of the bay that necessitate a factory 3 hours from a major market and transportation hub like Toronto? Could the municipal water supply of a large metropolitan area not be conditioned to meet the needs of this facility......should this not be a simple task for a company professing the capability of removing 99% of waste products from the fish factory?
-what kind of carbon footprint will the empty product trucks arriving, full trucks leaving, feed trucks arriving and leaving have on the environment?
-is GBIP a privately owned and for profit business?
-does GBIP assume that the waters of the bay are theirs for the taking?
-will taxpayers be indirectly funding this proposed facility through provincial or federal grants?
-will the MOE and MNR with their abysmal track records of monitoring past projects be charged with the oversight and ongoing monitoring of this project?
-no doubt a project of this scale will have high utility demands with pumps, heaters, filtration systems etc. Does the Bruce have the infrastructure to supply these needs?
-if not who bears the cost?
-GBIP suggests they will invite public input in the fall. Will that be before or after construction begins?
-if public opinion indicates GBIP is not welcome in the area, will they go away?
July 2, 2021 - Activity at Berford Lake Road today and at the top of Urban Street and Kribs Road. SMC Geomatics is surveying the property, for Tatham Engineering in Collingwood.
June 28, 2021 - Fish Tales or Bad Math? A MUST READ!
The following are excerpts from an article that appeared in the Owen Sound Sun Times on June 24, 2021
“ Georgian Bay Innovation Group sent a six-page update on the project to South Bruce Peninsula this week. It answers a series of concerns expressed in the community about the potential impacts of the recycled aquaculture system (RAS), while reassuring the public that the facility will not negatively impact the environment or local water sources.”
“Georgian Bay Innovation Group has decades of experience. The RAS technology has existed for several decades and, while there are continual evolutionary improvements as is the case with any innovations, the technological foundation is sound and we possess the expertise and experience to ensure safe and proper construction and operation,” says the document, provided by McNeill.”
To date we have not had a copy made available, and nothing appears on the company’s website. Our efforts to obtain a copy elsewhere have not been fruitful.
Reviewing the above statement, the company’s new Vice President of Communications Stephen McNeill states “Georgian Bay Innovation Group has decades of experience” yet a corporate report obtained through a public records search indicates the company was only registered on or about March 12, 2018.
The statement of multiple decades would suggest at least twenty years experience in aquaculture. This is indeed a remarkable achievement for a company that was only registered a little over 3 years ago.
It is possible that GBIG evolved from some other corporate entity, but this writer could not find a path between GBIG and such an entity related to aquaculture.
In the article the company spokesman addresses concerns about water usage:
“ A permit to take water under the Ontario Water Resources Act is required for land-based fish farms that take more than 50,000 litres of water per day, while environmental compliance approval is required for aquaculture facilities that discharge processed wastewater.”
And;
“ The facility will draw and return about 50,000 litres of water daily from Colpoy’s Bay, but that amount is a maximum and will fluctuate, McNeill said.”
The following article from 2019 discusses the construction of the “largest aquaculture facility in the world”
Information in the article provides some insight into the relationship between scale of operation and production expectations:
-390,000 sq ft
-10,000 metric tons of fish per year
-60 employees
This calculates to approximately 25.641 kg of fish per sq ft of facility per year and with the evolution and improvements in innovation Stephen McNeill speaks of, it might be reasonable to expect even higher production totals.
Mathematical extrapolation assuming the relationship between square footage and production yield is a linear one indicates a 500,000 square foot facility should be expected to produce 12,820 metric tons or 12,820,000 kg of fish per year.
Also in the Sun Times article:
“The province has approved an aquaculture licence for Georgian Bay Innovation Group’s proposed 500,000-square-foot land-based recirculating salmon farm near Colpoy’s Bay, but more senior government and local approvals are required before the project can go ahead.”
Georgian Bay Innovation Products proposes 500,000 sq feet and 200 employees.
Then there’s this: http://www.fao.org/3/i4626e/i4626e.pdf which goes on to discuss water usage on page 10:
Applying these statistics to Georgian Bay Innovation Products model
333 litres of water per kg of fish (produced per year in a super efficient RAS system recirculating 99.7% of its water) X 12,820,000kg = 4,269,060,000 litres of water per year or 11,696,054 litres per day…..almost 234 times more than the company suggests in their statement.
Even “scrubbing” the water with 99.5% efficiency means 584,802.7 litres of untreated water would be returned to the bay each day. What will that effluent do to the environment? What will it smell like? What will it do to drinking water drawn from Colpoys Bay?
Load limits on Ontario roads are 63500 kg. An average empty tractor trailer weighs 16000 kgs. leaving 47500 kgs of payload.
Moving 12,820,000 kg of fish in 47500 kg loads = 270 loads…..but wait…those fish will need water in those trucks if they are being shipped live, increasing load numbers tremendously, or are they being shipped after being processed on site?
How much noise does a refrigerated tractor trailer make...during the day or during the night?
What will be done with the entrails and by products from the potential fish killing and processing plant?
The number of questions only continues to grow. How closely was any of this looked at before permits were issued and licenses were granted? Was any consideration given to the potential environmental and ecological ramifications a project of this magnitude will present?