would like to state I have lived directly in front of the location of the Project # 104437 application for over 15 years (Anderson Cove Road).
During this time the area proposed in the application for aqua culture has been used by the T’Sou-ke Nation for clam digging on low tides in the summer.
This has always been a reasonable use of resources and has been operated a manner that has been respectful of the residents and the environment.
What is wrong with this usage continuing in perpetuity? This clam bed has provided thousands of years of food and income to the peoples of this area why change that and put it at risk?
The proposed use is not at all the same as the natural and historic one.
According to the application, the area will need eight large blocks (concrete?) and a continuous cover of netting across the entire width of the cove to keep out predators. These predators are natural and live here and need this foreshore to survive. This application should be re-worded as “keeping out the natural wildlife,” not predators. Predators — makes it sound like they are evil animals instead of our wild friends.
The very reason they have selected this location is due to its rare and unique environmental characteristics and the change of usage from natural clam beds to a fully-netted commercial aqua culture is so far from reasonable that I am stunned it would even be applied for.
I have personally witnessed the delicate balance of this unique cove. No two years are the same. I do not believe any environmental review could ever pass this application as the area in question is just too delicate to try such a commercial experiment.
The East Sooke Park has the only access to the Sooke Basin foreshore at this point and is used by hundreds of park visitors every weekend.
This area is also used by the entire community in the summer for swimming and is one of the only locations that is accessible. It is a delicate natural wonder famous for its natural beauty and stunning night time bio luminescence, not a commercial aqua culture site to be netted and turned into an industrial process.
The T’Sou-ke Nation should continue to harvest the clams in Anderson Cove as their ancestors did and not create an “unnatural” risky change to this pristine cove.
Matt Lambert
East Sooke