By Craig Westcott/April 7, 2022
The head of the Trepassey Harbour Authority is hoping to find enough local interest to convince Ottawa it should help fund a slipway for recreational boaters.
"There's nowhere here to put out a boat," said Dave White, the Authority's president. "So, we're just going to see if there's enough interest in going to look for a few dollars for us to do it."
White said a launchway could be used by anyone who needs it.
Currently, people with small boats who want access to the water have to back down onto the beach near the Government Wharf to get their craft in the harbour.
Really, there's nothing here," said White. "I'd say we're the only community on the shore that has nothing regarding a launchway."
The current Harbour Authority board, which took over several years ago, reckons there is enough demand in the area for a launch way.
"Right now, I'd say there are 50 boats around here," White said. "That's between Portugal Cove South and Trepassey. There are a fine lot of boats around, but I guess nobody ever went looking for anything like a slipway before. They have one in the Cove (Portugal Cove South) out by the wharf, but if you're going fishing up around St. Shotts and places like that it's not always nice enough to be able to get out there. And it's a lot farther (to steam to the St. Shotts side of the peninsula) from the Cove. And there are only three or four boats in the Cove anyway."
White admitted the group has no idea yet of the cost of constructing a slipway. "Now you're asking a million-dollar question," he said. "We haven't sized that up yet. All we're trying to do now is see how much interest there is in it and who is interested. If we have a few names and enough interest in it, then we can go to Small Craft Harbours (a division of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans) and see will they do anything for us."
Trepassey harbour itself, which once hosted a booming offshore fishery fleet, is still fairly active. There are three or four local commercial fishing enterprises based in the town, and a number of boats that come up every summer from Renews and Fermeuse to use it as a base for the whelk fishery. The commercial boats, if they are not already in the water, typically have to be lifted over the wharf with a crane at a harbour that has access to such equipment. A slipway is typically used by smaller craft, and recreational boaters.
"We're hoping to have a meeting within the next couple of weeks to see what happens and where we're going," White said.
