On a sunny April day in Spirity Cove on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, the cold Atlantic is a turquoise blue, lobster traps line the wharf, and 24 fishermen are ready to set, but they are cut off from their workplace.
“It’s disgusting,” said longtime fisherman Sam Hoddinott, pointing at a wall of rocks standing between them and the ocean.
Shaking his head at what he estimates to be millions of pounds of debris that accumulated gradually, Hoddinott says they’ve exhausted calls asking for help.
He says they approached various levels of government, including Small Craft Harbours, the federal body responsible for safe, accessible fishing harbours, but were informed that a path could not be cleared for them. In the past, the Ottawa-funded program used heavy equipment to remove sedimentary blockages.
Spirity Cove lobster fishermen stand on a rock wall blocking them off from fishing. Fishermen estimate the formation is 4.6 to six metres tall. (Leila Beaudoin/CBC)
Hoddinott says this spring he was told about funding cuts and getting “the hint to call elsewhere.”
He says he contacted his federal representative, Conservative MP Carol Anstey, and provincial member, PC MHA Andrea Barbour. Both told him they were working on the issue, but with the start of the fishing season only days away, Hoddinott says that’s not good enough.
Fisherman Ralph Diamond agrees.
“We can’t sit on the beach and watch everybody else fish,” he said.
Opposition MP says ‘it will be looked after’
Late Thursday afternoon, following the publication of this story, Anstey said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has now added Spirity Cove to its list of harbour maintenance. DFO has not responded to CBC’s inquiries.
“Spirity Cove wasn’t originally on the list [for dredging], however because our office sent along photographs from the fishermen in the area, the DFO have told us it will be looked after,” Anstey said in a statement.
“We asked for clarification on the timeline, and we have been advised that the equipment is on the Great Northern Peninsula, and when that job is completed, Spirity Cove will be next on the list.”
Spirity Cove is unincorporated, but Diamond lives there year round. Before it was resettled in the 1960s, the town on the opening of Ingronachoix Bay was a bustling fishing village.
The area’s healthy fishing grounds have prevailed and each season crews with roots in the community come back to fish species like lobster and halibut.
Spirity Cove on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula was resettled in the ’60s but fishermen come back each spring to fish from the cove. Fisheries like lobster and halibut sustain families with ties to the community. (Leila Beaudoin/CBC)
Waving his hands to show the way the wind blows, Diamond says he has witnessed a change in the weather that’s eroding that way of life — and responsible for changes like the rock wall formation.
“What it is now, we are having so many storms, and now we are having a north west wind,” he said.
Diamond uses his arms to show how that wind blows into the cove, and combines with ocean currents to deposit rocks at the opening of the fishing port.
“What do we do? What can we do? If it was ice they’d have to postpone it [the lobster fishery],” he said.
Liberal MHA Elvis Loveless, who is the fisheries critic, says there’s a “quick solution.”
Loveless points to MP Carol Anstey and the Wakeham government, arguing the two levels of government should be working together to get the fishermen out.
WATCH | These lobster harvesters want to fish, but they can’t get out of the harbour:
Spirity Cove fishermen are trapped in their harbour, and are calling for help ahead of lobster season
Lobster harvesters in Spirity Cove are cut off from their livelihood — the Atlantic. A rock barricade at the mouth of their harbour stands in their way after a rough winter, meaning the boats have no way to get to the fishing grounds. The CBC’s Leila Beaudoin has the story.
“This investment that would be required to dredge that and let them go fishing, the return that they’re going to get from their lobster and their catch is far greater than the investment to allow them to go fishing,” he said.
“There’s a lot of money worth of lobster that comes out of here, there’s 24 of us, close to a couple of million dollars, that trickles down to Mike House’s takeout,” said Hoddinott.
Todd House, 34, says uprooting their gear would cost them.
“If we have to move, that’s another week’s work. Then we are going to another congested harbour,” he said.
House says he looks forward to the season each year, not just for the paycheque but as a chance to return to the traditional fishing grounds.
Fisherman Ralph Diamond lives in Spirity Cove year round and says weather changes are eroding the coast and altering fishing grounds. (Leila Beaudoin/CBC)
Looking out at the water, Ralph Diamond says there’s nowhere else he would want to be.
But if the wall isn’t cleared, the lobster fishermen say they will be forced to pack up their gear, boats and traps and head elsewhere — a different kind of settlement that is not welcomed during the start of the lucrative fishery.
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