Calls for dredging after boats stuck in harbour

A boat carrying thousands of kilograms of mussels got stuck in Malpeque Harbour on Tuesday afternoon, leadingsome tocall for dredging in the harbour.

Staff at Prince Edward Aqua Farms were waiting to process between 4,535 and 5,440 kilograms of mussels when the boat got stuck.

"I guess at this point we're fed up with it," said Jerry Bidgood, the general manager at Prince Edward Aqua Farms.

"It seems like the DFO or the feds or somebody the barge is still up there but the windows are boarded up like they're done and here we still can't get in."

Bidgood said the boat carrying the mussels eventually made it into port.

Bill Drost, the area director of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for P.E.I., said a dredge contractor has been working in Malpeque Harbour since late April.

"It's an ongoing battle for sure. We are very sympathetic to the mussel growers and to the lobster fishermen that are trying to do their jobs right now," Drost told CBC News.

"We had a 25-metre-wide and in some areas 35-metre-wide path cut through in Malpeque and it appears in the last few hours that there has been some movement of the sand that has infilled at least part of the cut that we had made."

Some lobster fishermen who use Hardys Channel near Tyne Valley have moved their boats to Alberton for the rest of the lobster season because of the difficulty getting in and out of the harbour this year.

Eric Wagner, who has been fishing for 25 years, said he has never seen the channel in such a state.

"Getting in on the low tide with the sea on your stern, very dangerous. The boats are hitting bottom and when the tide is running out the weight of the tide running out there is probably five or six knots it will turn your boat sideways, mouth open to the sea and you are pretty well at the mercy of the breakers," he said.

Wagner said he is afraid boats will be lost.

"There have been a few boats that have taken water on but they got out of the situation and the boats didn't stay there. It's bad, it's just real bad."

Drost said every part of the north shore has issues this year with infilling, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is trying to deal with the problems on a priority basis.

"We had a survey crew back in Malpeque today but the weather was too rough for them to get out to actually do the survey on their survey boat," said Drost on Tuesday.

The dredge is still in Malpeque and it will be put back to work again if need be, he said.