— April 25, 2016 —
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to Kathleen Tudor’s letter published on August 28, 2012 concerning the salmon farming interpretative panels that were recently installed on Dock Street in Shelburne.
The Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association (ACFFA) developed these interpretative panels at the request of tourism operators and members of the community. They are deliberately located in areas that are near salmon farms to help answer questions from both tourists and residents. People often ask questions about the farms when they see them in the harbour and tourism operators have asked for help in providing visitors with accurate information about the salmon farming industry.
These panels were approved by authorities in advance. They are not advertisements. They’re interpretative panels that inform the public about an important part of the area’s working waterfront. Similar interpretative panels exist across the Maritimes to provide information about everything from shipbuilding and forestry to the life cycle of whales and the creation of sand dunes.
Salmon farming is a complex part of our region’s food growing sector and many people don’t know much about it. ACFFA represents salmon farmers from across the Maritimes. Educating the public about this important sector is one of our many roles. Most people agree that these beautiful panels do that very well.