P.E.I. harbours damaged by Fiona being readied for spring lobster season - Action News
Home WebMail Thursday, November 14, 2024, 01:53 AM | Calgary | 6.7°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
PEI

P.E.I. harbours damaged by Fiona being readied for spring lobster season

It will take years to repair the damage from post-tropical storm Fiona, but the boats and traps are back at harbours across Prince Edward Island, ready for the spring lobster season to start this week.

Space for lobster boats tighter than it used to be, but harbours are 'making it work'

Three fishing boats tied up to a wharf
The boats will have to squeeze closer together for now in Red Head harbour because some of the wharf repairs will take years to complete. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

With the spring lobster fishing season just days away, the boats are returning to Prince Edward Island harbours damaged by post-tropical storm Fiona, squeezing in a bit tighter to find room for everyone.

At Red Head Harbour near Morell, about 75 per cent of the harbour's infrastructure was damaged by the late September wind and waves from Fiona, and some of the repairs are expected to take years.

"We had lots of room before and everybody had to tighten up. Everyone had to take less space to allow a couple more gears inthe east wharf and the south wharf," said David Sansom, president of the Red Head Harbour Authority.

"Everybody's pretty accommodating here. Everybody did what they were asked, and everything's good."

A crane lifts a large red buoy onto a fishing boat
David Sansom lifts a buoy onto his boat to take it out to the channel in preparation for the spring lobster season at Red Head Harbour. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

He added: "The north wharf is going to be fixed within the next year, I hope, and then the west wharf's going to be a couple-year project.As portions of the wharvesget fixed, people will go back where they were before and but it's going to be probably a three-year plus project to get everybody back."

Everybody's just happy to get back in the water, and they're happy to have a place for their traps. David Sansom,Red Head Harbour Authority

Sansom said the wharves will be built back four feet (1.2 metres) higher, and stronger, as mandated by the federal government, to protect the harbour from the impact of future storms.

A smashed up wharf at Red Head Harbour
Post-tropical storm Fiona destroyed 75 per cent of the infrastructure at Red Head Harbour. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

He said funding for the wharf restoration is coming from the Small CraftHarbours program run by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, with no price tag yet for the rebuild.

Ottawa designated $100 million for urgent harbour repairs as part of a $300-million recovery package for Atlantic Canada announced in the days after Fiona.

"Everybody's just happy to get back in the water, and they're happy to have a place for their traps, and it's all good," Sansom said.

A fishing boat goees past a pile of rocks next to a wharf with no deck because of storm damage
A boat at the entrance to Red Head Harbour, where the wharves are still being repaired from post-tropical storm Fiona. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Wharf at Coveheadcan fit 16

At CoveheadHarbour, a section of the wharf has been condemned and will need a substantial repair, but until then, there is enough space for the 16 lobster boats based there to squeeze together for the spring season.

Ten buildings, mainly bait sheds, are gone entirely, having been torn down because of the damage, and the beach and parking lot still need to be cleaned up.

A hole in the wharf at Covehead harbour is damage from Fiona
This section of the wharf at Covehead Harbour has been condemned and will be blocked off. The boats that were tied up here have been moved to other parts of the dock, to squeeze in all 16 lobster boats. (Julien Lecacheur/CBC)

But seeing the lobster boats and piles of lobster traps is onestep along thereturn path to normal.

"It did do a lot of damage, don't get me wrong," Allan Coadyof the Harbour Authority of Coveheadsaid of the post-tropical storm.

"It wasdevastating to see this, especially coming down the next day. It's just ...you're speechless. It's unbelievable, you know? Nobody expected that."

A man in a plaid shirt and ballcap stands in front of lobster traps
Allan Coady says the wharf will be rebuilt stronger and higher, and he's hoping the harbour will get a bullpen, a sheltered area where the boats can tie up. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)

Coady said the repaired wharf will be built stronger and higher, and he's hoping the harbour will get a bullpen, a sheltered area for the boats to tie up.

"This is one of the only harbours that I know of on Prince Edward Island that doesn't have one," he said.

"We're open to the sea in every direction here. We have no shelter whatsoever. So this is going to be a big improvement if we get it."

A man lifts a lobster trap off a truck to place it on a pile of traps in the background.
The piles of lobster traps on the wharf at Covehead Harbour are a sign of life returning to 'normal' after post-tropical storm Fiona. (Julien Lecacheur/CBC)

At the harbour in Stanley Bridge, work is also continuing to repair the damage from the September storm, with new rock for protection and hydro lines going in underground.

"We gotta get the work done, and get it going. So we spent a lot of time this last few months cleaning up," said Dales Doiron, of theStanley Bridge Harbour Authority.

"But hopefully everything will be done by the 1st of July. That's the hope."

A pile of rocks line the shoreline with a fishing boat tied up in the harbour
Repairs continue at the harbour in Stanley Bridge. Rocks have been added to give protection from the sea where the storm ripped away the bank. (Julien Lecacheur/CBC)