Nova Scotia mink ranchers are confident that new provincial legislation will benefit their industry.
The Act for the Development and Management of the NS Fur Industry, introduced April 29, decrees that ranchers must obtain a site approval permit and have an environmental management plan that addresses disease prevention and water and waste issues before their receive an operating license. Existing ranches have three years to comply.
These logical, sensible measures should protect the environment and protect ranchers from public attacks that have no scientific basis and from personal threats.
While implementing the new regulations will be expensive, NS Mink Breeders Association President Earl Prime says ranchers are prepared to shoulder the cost.
He says there are a number of young farmers who want to get into the industry that had $80 million in export sales last year.
On the other hand…
The Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia believes that recommendations from a steering panel about how the province should manage its parks, minerals, forests and biodiversity are a step “to put a strangle hold” on its industry.
FPANS says, ‘A Natural Balance: Working Toward Nova Scotia's Natural Resources Strategy’ is “a series of unnecessary restrictions and regulations” that will affect every land owner and forest industry worker.
Executive Director Steve Talbot says the elimination of clear cutting, whole-tree harvesting and intensive forest management— and at the same time suggesting a decrease in annual harvesting levels—will choke off the industry’s wood supply and shut down trucking and harvesting contractors, lumber and pulp and paper mills.
