P.E.I. farm faces federal charge linked to 2016 fish kill
A P.E.I. farm faces a charge under the federal Fisheries Act, in connection with a fish kill that happened two years ago.
Skye View Farms, in Elmwood, is charged with permitting the release of a substance deleterious to fish.
The charge relates to a fish kill reported on the Clyde River in July 2016.
Federal charge follows conviction under provincial law
Skye View Farms is owned by well-known Island farmer Alex Docherty.
He was fined $1,000 in July 2017 after an investigation into that same fish kill.
That fine was under the provincial legislation for allowing his pesticide applicator's licence to expire.
Docherty has been an outspoken critic of charges against members of the farming community in connection to fish kills.
At the time of the previous case last year, Docherty argued that extremely heavy rainfall, not farming practices, caused soil from fields to wash into the river.
The new charge, under the federal Fisheries Act, was filed in October by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Docherty and his adult son, Logan, are named in the court filing.
The charge against the Dochertys and Skye View Farms is now making its way through provincial court. Following a brief hearing Monday in Charlottetown, attended by a lawyer for Skye View Farms, the case was adjourned until January.
It follows another recent case — that of Brookfield Gardens and a fish kill on the North River four years ago — in which a $15,000 fine was handed down.
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