Main Brook wants wharf reopened

There was hope that things were about to turn around. A new operator for the troubled fish plant had been secured, improvements were being made to the facility and boats were being lined up to bring caplin and mackerel to the community for processing. Some even suggested the herring quota in Hare Bay could be fished for the first time in almost a decade.
But as spring gave way to summer, there were no signs that Transport Canada was prepared to lift the restrictions which had kept the public wharf closed for more than a year.
With the caplin season drawing to a close, the talk around a table at the municipal building was a review of the options open to the community.
"What can we do?" asked Rex Cooper, a member of the Main Brook resource and development committee. "There's not a lot of time to play with. But I'm not sure we're going to sit back and let this happen."
The wharf, a creosote-timbered structure with a concrete deck, was closed in 2008 by Transport Canada on grounds there were "structural and load-bearing concerns."
Repairs were administered last summer. The department commissioned an engineering study and told The Northern Pen last fall that a decision to reopen the wharf would be made after the report was reviewed.
Getting access to the report - like the wharf itself, thanks to a concrete and rock barricade - has proven to be an exercise in futility. Everyone from the council and the research and development committee to the offices of MP Gerry Byrne and MHA Trevor Taylor have tried to acquire the report, without success.
"We need to get our hands on that study," said Jerome Ward, Byrne's executive assistant. "That wharf is very important to the future of the community."
Questions were asked at the meeting about whether Transport Canada was interested in relinquishing the wharf and turning it over to the municipality or private enterprise. On that issue, Transport Canada hasn't said much.
Mayor Dave Gibbons isn't sure he likes the idea of a small town taking on a wharf that may present a host of environmental issues, but he notes he's willing to at least listen if it means getting the wharf operational again.
Cooper isn't so sure there's anything wrong with the wharf.
"The wharf is not unsafe, in my opinion," he suggested. "Why is Transport Canada holding the people up for ransom?"

Need only portion
Another member of the research and development committee, Leander Pilgrim, suggested the short-term solution may be in getting permission from Transport Canada to use a portion of the wharf.
"All we need is a small section where the land meets the wharf," he said. "There's deep water there; the boats can pull up to the pump and the trucks can park on the gravel."
Plant operator Andy Sneer hasn't been mired in the frustrations that others around the table have been in trying to secure a future for Main Brook. He just wants to offload pelagics and process the fish at the plant he's reorganizing. He said he would even give consideration to acquiring the wharf from Transport Canada, but not without first seeing an engineering report.
Sneer used the wharf for a short period last year and questioned why a structure that handled some 18 million pounds of mackerel two years ago would suddenly be categorized as unsafe.
Attempts to contact Transport Canada officials for comment before The Northern Pen's deadline were unsuccessful.

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