Councillor hopes future non-profit society will be eligible for grants to maintain sluice
Published: Mar 22, 2018 at 1:27 p.m
PEMBROKE – A blocked sluice that used to be a passageway for kiack (fish) has been reopened between Pembroke Cove and Goose Flats. The fish accessed the passageway during high tide to eventually reach nearby Island Pond, where they spawned.
The work was completed on March 19 by an excavator and funded by the Department of Fisheries.
Loren Cushing, councillor for the Municipality of Yarmouth, says it’s been several years since the sluice was dredged properly.
“During that time local residents took it upon themselves to help the conservation need of the yearly migrating fish,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with the tight restrictions of environment (department) over the last few years, volunteers have shied away from breaking the law,” he added.
Although volunteer efforts were appreciated by the community, the volunteers lacked access to do a more thorough job using heavy machinery.
Part of the problem was a barrier.
Last year, landowners at the end of the Cranberry Head road positioned large rocks across their property to prevent passage to the shoreline. Machinery could no longer reach the sluice using that approach and the use of a beach that residents had been accessing for decades was prevented.
The excavator that recently reclaimed the channel filled in by the ocean had to travel close to a kilometre along a narrow rocky shoreline ridge on the south side to reach the site.
Cushing says a more permanent and easier way to access the beach and sluice by the Israel Allen J road or via other entries will be pursued in the future.
“I can understand that private property has to be respected. However, I believe it is just as important for the public to be able to gain access to the beach,” he said, referring to the trail blockage by the owners.
“In southwest Nova Scotia we are famous for our beaches. If the public is not allowed to walk along a beach or have access to a beach, I believe there is something wrong with the system.”
Published: Mar 22, 2018 at 1:27 p.m
PEMBROKE – A blocked sluice that used to be a passageway for kiack (fish) has been reopened between Pembroke Cove and Goose Flats. The fish accessed the passageway during high tide to eventually reach nearby Island Pond, where they spawned.
The work was completed on March 19 by an excavator and funded by the Department of Fisheries.
Loren Cushing, councillor for the Municipality of Yarmouth, says it’s been several years since the sluice was dredged properly.
“During that time local residents took it upon themselves to help the conservation need of the yearly migrating fish,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with the tight restrictions of environment (department) over the last few years, volunteers have shied away from breaking the law,” he added.
Although volunteer efforts were appreciated by the community, the volunteers lacked access to do a more thorough job using heavy machinery.
Part of the problem was a barrier.
Last year, landowners at the end of the Cranberry Head road positioned large rocks across their property to prevent passage to the shoreline. Machinery could no longer reach the sluice using that approach and the use of a beach that residents had been accessing for decades was prevented.
The excavator that recently reclaimed the channel filled in by the ocean had to travel close to a kilometre along a narrow rocky shoreline ridge on the south side to reach the site.
Cushing says a more permanent and easier way to access the beach and sluice by the Israel Allen J road or via other entries will be pursued in the future.
“I can understand that private property has to be respected. However, I believe it is just as important for the public to be able to gain access to the beach,” he said, referring to the trail blockage by the owners.
“In southwest Nova Scotia we are famous for our beaches. If the public is not allowed to walk along a beach or have access to a beach, I believe there is something wrong with the system.”