Cape Breton boatbuilders help DFO to face commercial, climate change challenges

The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is having four new patrol boats built in rural Cape Breton to address some of the challenges faced by fisheries enforcement officers.

The new boats are larger than the existing ones to better deal with the effects of climate change, larger commercial vessels and heavier fishing gear. Once completed, the boats will be used in the Atlantic region.

"As we've seen in the last couple of years, climate change is a huge thing ... and adverse weather conditions are getting more and more frequent and our officers just don't take a day off because it's really bad weather-wise," said Scott Phillips, DFO's eastern Nova Scotia area chief of conservation and protection.

"This is going to provide a vessel that's very safe on the water, very stable on the water."

Samson Enterprises in Petit de Grat, N.S., has built boats for DFO before, including small science vessels and 8½-metre jet boats for fisheries monitoring and enforcement.

This week, the federal government announced the company has been awarded a $5.4-million contract for four new 13½-metre patrol boats.

They will be equipped with Seakeeper machines that help control the roll of a vessel and will provide a larger, more stable platform and a crane, making it easier to haul traps and weather the seas.

At sea longer, farther offshore

"Right now, weather dictates," Phillips said. "Sea state dictates how far we can go in our current vessels."

The new boats will allow enforcement officers to be farther offshore where commercial fishing boats are increasingly able to go and to stay on the water longer, he said.

The existing patrol boats are reaching the end of their life, so it's a good time to increase the size and capability, Phillips said.

Rachelle Samson, office manager for the boatbuilding company, said the contract will help keep 23 employees busy and add up to five new jobs.

"It's vital for this company to be able to continue to maintain its current workforce and so to have gotten this contract was a great piece for us," she said.

Cape Breton-Canso Liberal MP Mike Kelloway said the contract helps DFO provide safer and more effective fisheries enforcement and provides economic development in rural Cape Breton.

Two of the new vessels are already being built and are expected to be put into service this fall, replacing smaller, older boats in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The other two are expected to be on the water next spring in the Atlantic region.

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