The establishment of a fund so the P.E.I. government can buy land that allows soil runoff into streams was one of three key recommendations made in a report on fish kills in the province.

The province announced in July that it was tasking a committee to look into the repeated fish kills in the Trout River watershed in West Prince.

The recommendations would not be expensive for government, says P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture president John Jamieson. (CBC)

The group came up with 18 recommendations, three of which it described as key.

• Implement soil conservation practices in fields adjacent to watercourses.
• Establish an environmental fund for the removal of land from agricultural production that is prone to soil erosion and surface runoff.
• Have agricultural engineers examine fields causing fish kills as soon as possible after an event.

The group recommends the province set aside $200,000 to take problematic agricultural land out of production.

John Jamieson, executive director of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture, said the measures would not be expensive.

"A lot of this can be done with minimal cost to the government," said Jamieson.

"It means that we all work together, and that we use the system that is already in place to do a better job."

The committee looked at increasing the required size of areas separating fields from water courses, but decided that wouldn't make a significant difference in preventing fish kills.

Shawn Hill of the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance likes the recommendations, but would also like to see bigger penalties for violations.

"I think if we look across the province, there's a lot of places where we have horrendous amounts of soil erosion," said Hill.

"They're not just a one-off year, they're somewhat regular. I don't see the consequences for that."

Environment Minister Janice Sherry said the province will look at the recommendations but it's too early to say if it will adopt them.

For mobile device users: What is your reaction to the report on fish kills in West Prince?