The Mayor of Hermitage-Sandyville was determined to send a message at the Cold Harvest aquaculture conference in St. John’s this week.

Steve Crewe was in attendance, walking the trade show floor with a sign reading “Save South Coast Jobs.”

Crewe, like many others on the south coast, is concerned about the potential impact of a proposed, and massive Marine Conservation Area, that would cover an area greater than the size of Prince Edward Island.

He wants the federal government to understand how the proposed conservation area could affect economic development all along the province’s south coast.

“The biggest thing at stake,” says Crewe “is the aquaculture industry of course. Because if you’re not allowed to put, especially with the delivery of smolts, it’s got to come through that area, and that’s not allowed. Especially fishermen and regular people that go out scallop dragging and all that stuff, all that stuff’s going to be banned. Your way of life won’t be lived, because Parks Canada takes it over, and they dictate what happens. Right now, they’re saying nothing like that’s going to happen, we all know the difference.”