Fisheries committee  The old harbour?

Fisheries committee  No, it's still in place. But as I said, the A-frame breakwater is falling apart and there's no protection for the floats on the boats.

Fisheries committee  Yes. Alert Bay is shaped like that. It's built right in this part of Alert Bay. The other breakwater is right in the middle of Alert Bay, which is operated by the municipality of Alert Bay.

Fisheries committee  That's right.

Fisheries committee  On the dividing line, and it angled off towards the reserve.

Fisheries committee  You're talking about fishing boats, sailboats, small pleasure boats, gillnetters. When they come in to visit Alert Bay, they try to tie up at the breakwater--the rock breakwater run by the municipality. Sometimes they tie up at the other breakwater, but as I say, it's not protected by a rock breakwater.

Fisheries committee  We are working on that now, but we know by witnessing how many boats come in, slow down, and then take off out of the harbour. We have a world famous cultural centre in Alert Bay that people stop in to see. We have pocket cruise ships that tie up in Alert Bay to come to see the cultural centre.

Fisheries committee  Yes. The one that was constructed in 1957-58 was actually constructed by Public Works Canada. In 1969, when the other boat harbour was constructed, Public Works Canada cancelled its lease to that particular site. It wasn't until 1988 that we officially took over the lease and started maintaining that harbour and doing the small repairs, just to keep it operational.

Fisheries committee  We haven't had a visit from small craft harbours people for quite a while.

Fisheries committee  It's probably been five or six years, from the time we had the study. Actually it was in 1993, when we had the design studies done. That's not to say they don't come and look at the harbour that the municipality manages.

Fisheries committee  We need a rock breakwater.

Fisheries committee  It would be very costly, probably $5 million to $6 million. We're doing some of the priority work that we feel needs to be done. We're getting engineers to start redesign work at our own expense. We don't have a marine fuel station in Alert Bay now. That was taken out two years ago.

Fisheries committee  It was in 2001. It was small craft harbours directorate and DFO.

Fisheries committee  It was a public announcement. I think it was in all the newspapers.

Fisheries committee  When was that?