Fishermen, MLAs raise concerns about need for more dredging on the North Shore
CBC
Fishers in North Rustico hit the water earlier than usual Wednesday morning after more than a dozen boats were stranded offshore on Tuesday.
Extremely low tides and strong winds combined with extra sand in the channel meant about half the boats that went out Tuesday morning couldn't get back to the wharf at the usual time, and had to either wait for high tide to return or seek other harbours.
"I'd never seen the tide that low as it was yesterday," said Ian Gauthier, a fisherman who was stuck offshore for about five hours Tuesday.
"I've never experienced that before," he said. "That's the first time in about 40 years."
Boats started coming into the harbour around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, with some fishers ending the day hours earlier than they typically would with an eye on the tide chart.
Some fishers said they didn't want to get stranded or risk any expensive boat damage.
Aubrey Doucette said he didn't fish about 60 of his traps Wednesday in order to shorten the day.
"It was frustrating, but at the end of the day, ultimately I still wanted to get in [rather than] have to sit out there again for five or six hours," he said.
While expensive damage to fishing boats is a concern, so are safety risks.
"Say if somebody had a medical emergency and you have to sail in… sitting out there for four hours, you know, wouldn't have been very good if somebody was severely hurt," Doucette said.
"It's definitely a concern in the back of your head. Like, today I just wanted to get in and didn't really worry about the last 60 traps," the fisherman said, adding that he plans to check the remaining traps for lobster over the next few days.
Safety concerns were also top of mind for lobster fisher Merrill Montgomery.
"When it's not safe, it kind of affects your livelihood because you can't fish your gear properly because you're rushing to get the gear hauled, kind of fish around the tides and hope to get back in safe," Montgomery said.
"We need to be doing something for safety reasons, whether it's dredging or building wharfs with breakwalls," he said.
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