The Coast of Bays (COB) Joint Mayors' Committee met at the town hall of Belleoram on Monday, January 18, primarily to meet with officials from Municipal Affairs and the Multi-Materials Stewardship Board (MMSB) to discuss the continuing development of a waste management strategy for the area. Eight municipalities were represented at the winter meeting hosted by Mayor Steward May of Belleoram.

Before the main discussion on waste management, the Mayors decided on the following items.

Aquaculture processing

Following their meeting of November, 2, 2009, during which the Mayors requested a meeting with the companies involved in aquaculture in the Coast of Bays, they have now decided to contact the new Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Honorable Clyde Jackman, to discuss the province's requirements concerning minimum processing before the finfish is exported to another province. The Mayors would like to see more benefits to the region from the aquaculture activity here.

Geoff Irvine, the Executive Director of the Lobster Council of Canada (LCC), said that the council is working hard to solve some of the key issues facing the Atlantic Canadian lobster fishing industry.

The LCC, which officially became a council in October 2009, had its beginning in the Atlantic Lobster Summit that was held in October 2007.

The communities of Hermitage-Sandyville and Pool's Cove will see the additions of two new in-flow aquaculture wharves this year as tenders were recently awarded for the construction of these facilities.

The tender for the Pool's Cove wharf has been awarded to Coady Construction and Excavation Ltd. Of Torbay while Seagull Construction Ltd. Of Conception Bay South was awarded the tender for the Hermitage-Sandyville wharf. The tenders are valued at $3 million and $2.8 million respectively.

	One of the breakout groups at Friday's session is helping to create a visio... »

As a part of the process of writing its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, the town of Hermitage-Sandyville hosted an economic forum on the weekend of January 22 and 23 for councilors, business people, and representatives of industry and volunteer groups to provide input regarding all aspects of community life.

Thirty-eight people attended the Friday evening session, and twenty-eight were there for most of Saturday: of these about ten or more (facilitators and business reps) were from outside the community.