Overview
- The cabinet-approved lease covers 83 hectares of Crown land and coastal waters and is renewable for another 20 years, clearing a key provincial hurdle for the Whale Sanctuary Project.
- Organizers plan a roughly 40-hectare floating net enclosure adjacent to Port Hilford Bay and have set aside funds to acquire 12 hectares around a wharf for onshore facilities.
- No whales will be transferred until Transport Canada issues a Navigable Waters permit and Fisheries and Oceans Canada grants per-animal transfer licences, with organizers saying Transport Canada has the information it needs.
- Project leaders now target private fundraising for about $15 million in construction costs and $1.5 million in annual operations and say they are not seeking government funding.
- Marineland has opposed the Nova Scotia site and recently saw Ottawa reject its bid to sell belugas to China, while local landowner consent remains unresolved and the lease followed a recommendation from Tory Rushton, who was removed from cabinet the same day.