The FFAW’s Inshore Council is crying foul against oil-burning experiments set to take place off the province’s coast this year.

The experiments are set to take place as apart of the Multi-Partner Research Initiative—which was launched by the DFO.

Essentially, the experiments will see some oil intentionally released into the water and then burned off. Government’s goal with the research, according to the union, is to minimize the environmental impact of oil spills and improve response protocols.

The FFAW says they cannot support the experiments, which will take place over important fishing grounds, and told the government so in writing on January 20.

They say that an oil spill, no matter the magnitude, could have unknown effects on the health of the ocean environment, and to conduct the experiments would be “counterintuitive” to government’s principles of environmental protection.

The vice-president of the Inshore Council, Tony Doyle, is calling on federal Minister Joyce Murray to halt the projects.