MP Casey goes to bat for Barrachois, N.S. fishermen

By Monique Chiasson

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Bill Casey admits he isn’t sure if funding is available for a deteriorating North Shore, N.S. wharf, but at least he now has ammunition to help the cause.

The Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit MP visited the dilapidated wharf in Barrachois on May 6 while meeting informally with a few members of the Barrachois Harbour Fishermen’s Association. While there, he took photos and samples of the wharf.

“Some of it’s completely eaten away by worms...it’s a safety issue. You can stick a screwdriver up to its handle in some parts of the wood,” he said, detailing a little of the damage. “And it reminds me of Rice Krispies...the sound of it.”

Casey will try different areas of government seeking funding – which the association previously said could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – but admits it won’t be an easy task.

“I don’t want to raise false hope ... I don’t know where to go (yet) but we’ll explore where ever we have to.”

Stanley Reid, president of the fishermen’s association, is pleased Casey is taking an active interest.

“It didn’t hurt ... (but) time will tell what happens. He certainly took an interest and I have to think positive,” said Reid. “We’ll wait to see how he makes out and we’ll keep looking for answers.”

The wharf – which is being ravaged by worms eating the timber support cribbing beneath the water level, causing its gravel surface to wash into the harbour – is home to 11 fishing vessels, as well as a number of pleasure boats. It also provides more than 35 jobs related to harbour activities.

(Monique Chiasson is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Truro Daily News newspaper, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)