MV Miner cleanup to be suspended until after lobster season

The last pieces of the MV Miner should be off the shore of Scatarie Island by the time the area's lobster fishing season opens later this week, but the province says removing the equipment and tailers on the island will have to wait until the season is over.

Antigonish-based R.J. MacIsaac Construction Ltd. is aiming to have the salvage work finished by Friday, when local lobster fishermen head out to sea for the first day of their season.

Geoff MacLellan, Nova Scotia's Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said just a couple of jobs remain.

"The key now is to get the final engine of the four engines removed; the other three are already gone," he said Monday.

"Then it becomes about scanning the debris field. The debris is 100 metres from where the vessel sat, so that requires underwater diving and of course, any equipment required to remove any large pieces of metal remaining underwater. Then at that point, we'll be into the fishing season."

MacLellan said while the wreck will disappear, there will still be a pile of scrap on Scatarie Island that must be transported by a barge.

"It looks like we'll probably hold tight and wait until after the season to remove the materials, the equipment and the trailers from Scatarie," he said.

MacLellan said his department and the salvage company are in negotiations for the final price for all the work. Once that's established, MacLellan said he will ask the federal government to pay a share of the costs.

The MV Miner broke its line and ran aground on Scatarie Island in September 2011 while being towed from Montreal to Turkey, where the 12,000-tonne, 223-metre bulk carrier was to be scrapped.