My name is Herb Butt. I am a director with the Harbour Authority of Carbonear.
My interest in the authority was created, I believe, as a result of my father being a fisherman. I fished with him as a teen and developed a liking for the ocean while fishing. I enjoy the ocean today by kayaking out of many harbours around the island. Most of the harbours seem to be well funded, having been made safe and efficient with the construction of breakwaters, etc.
Otherwise, I became interested due to the feeling that it was not appropriate for fisherpersons to have to tie up their boats three abreast of each other in Carbonear. This is in contrast to some other harbours, where they have excess mooring spaces available for fishing boats due to federal government spending.
It was said--this comes from talking with the fishermen--that much of the infrastructure in need of repair was as a result of sea agitation. The public wharf was the fishermen's main concern, and they supported the newly formed harbour authority in having a breakwater constructed to prevent further erosion.
I was involved in the Carbonear Island development strategy in August 2004. It was a comprehensive study to provide strategic direction and a rational process to develop Carbonear Island as a national historic events site. The strategy did include the Carbonear waterfront and the public wharf as being very important in developing this tourism destination.
Now, knowing that a breakwater was common to two very important areas of development for Carbonear and the Carbonear area, my competitive side realized that Carbonear had as much and in some cases more to offer than other communities around the island that have received federal funding for breakwaters. Today, along with the other members of the harbour authority, we know that federal funding for a breakwater to create a safe and efficient harbour would be a very secure investment. The investment would be diverse, in that the breakwater would serve, most importantly, the fisherpersons and then tourism, along with recreational boat users, and it could also be somewhat of a centre for members of the general public.
The authority was incorporated in the year 2002, after fisherpersons and recreational boat owners had a meeting with the small craft harbours people and John Efford, the candidate for Bonavista—Trinity—Placentia, who supported the forming of a harbour authority. During this meeting, it was said by the small craft harbours people that:
It's the Harbour Authorities who are to assist in the planning and prioritization of maintenance and future development within the Harbour.”
This comment supports our proposal. It is clear that federal funding for the Carbonear breakwater will help fulfill that development role of the harbour authority.
The harbour authority is made up of seven directors elected for a two-year term. We encourage that the directors be made up of mainly fisherpersons, then recreational boat owners, and finally, members of the general public. To involve more people, we are now moving towards adding to our membership at next month's annual meeting and election of directors.
The harbour authority has a good working relationship with the small craft harbours program in operating and maintaining the fishing premises. Since its start, the harbour authority has brought in town water and electricity to the wharf. The wharf has been partially paved, and a used oil containment system along with an oil spill boom and cleanup kit are on the premises.
We have leased from the small craft harbours program the public wharf--it was built prior to 1960, and it may require structural work on the east side--which is one of the few schooner wharves of its size, in excess of 40 feet by 300 feet, around the island. The wharf is frequented by many large vessels, including the coast guard, and it may have seen the royal yacht Britannia come all the way into the wharf had it not been for security reasons.
The size of the wharf made it possible and convenient to have local fabricated items for the oil industry taken away by barges, and now with the fishery involving larger boats, the wharf is becoming even more of a valued asset. Apart from the safety issues of now having boats tied up three abreast, the west side of the wharf offers secure moorage with little sea agitation, while the east side is not secure enough to be used most of the time.
We need a breakwater, as designed, mainly to prevent further erosion to the wharf, at the same time making the east side of the wharf safe and secure for mooring so as to eliminate congestion on the west side. The breakwater would also protect other infrastructure on the east side--which is very necessary to fisherpersons--such as additional boat mooring, boat storage, a slipway, a fish off-loading station, and a building containing storage, an ice room, a fish buying and selling area, an office, washrooms, and a kitchen. Based on the current design, the breakwater will extend beyond the wharf approximately 10%, thereby protecting, to some degree, infrastructure on the west side, including fishermen's wharves, the fabrication plant, other private developments, and Rorke Stores, a registered historic structure.
In early 2003, the authority's founding directors communicated to Mr. William Goulding, regional director of small craft harbours, the reasons, in detail, for the need for a breakwater. Minister Efford, who we worked with for only a short period of time due to the turning of the political tide, saw the small craft harbours program do a sounding survey. The survey was completed later in 2003 and determined the design, location, and cost of the breakwater.
Since 2006 we have had four meetings with our Avalon MP, Fabian Manning. All the meetings could be summed up fairly equitably by what was said by a news journalist as a result of our October 2006 meeting, when the fisheries minister, Loyola Hearn, also attended. It was said that the proposal for a new breakwater did not receive any new money, but it did get a high-level endorsement.
Support for our proposal has been by way of letters from the town of Carbonear and nearby towns of Victoria, Salmon Cove, Perry's Cove, and Freshwater; the local fish plant and other shoreline property owners; Carbonear mayor Sam Slade and councillors; representatives of business, heritage, and tourism; and a petition signed by several hundred members of the general public.
Thank you.