FFAW seeking compensation for Placentia Bay harvesters affected by upcoming dredging

Upcoming dredging operations in harbours in the Placentia Bay area of Newfoundland have fish harvesters worried for the future and seeking compensation for potential losses.

CenovusEnergy will begin dredging in the areas ofFox Harbour, Ship Harbour, Placentiaand Jerseysideto facilitate the next phase of its West White Rose oil project. The constructed concrete gravity structure which stands 475 feet tall will be towed from Argentia to the White Rose oil field.

Dredging involves clearing out and removing sediments and debris from the ocean floor, and can also affect underwater habitats.In this case, the clean floor would allow the concrete basin to float through the harbour unobstructed in order to reach shipping lanes.

Jamie Barnett, a Placentia fish harvester and inshore council member of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, said the prospect of dredging in the area has harvesters on edge.

"[These are] very important fishing grounds," he told CBC Radio, saying Argentia and the Placentia Bay plays a key part in fisheries like herring, scallop and lobster.

"If you turn all the vegetables over in your garden, and take them two miles away and dump them all out and turn them upside down, you're not going to have many vegetables come back in your garden. We're really trying to protect that resource and grow it, but dredging and the silt and the destruction of the bottom and the habitat really got us on edgeand kind of worried on where the future lies in those fisheries."

The FFAW said in amember update on Sept. 16 that it has concerns over the disruption of fishing grounds as a result of the dredging, as well as the impact on species mortality andreproductive rates. Barnett said harvesters believe the dredging could have a three- to five-year impact on habitats.

Harvesters have until Nov. 1 to make themselves known for potential compensation.

In an email to CBC News on Friday evening, Cenovussaid the group has had ongoing meetings with harvesters to work toward a mutually agreeable solution, which includes a habitat reconstruction plan that's in the early stages of being implemented.

Barnett said Cenovus has been receptive and open throughout the process.

"They are willing to work with us and help us out with trying to see our way through the future during this project," he said.

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