Gas terminal meeting doesn’t satisfy fishermen Canada project may restrict waters

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – New Brunswick lobster fishermen said they were disappointed after a meeting with federal officials to discuss compensation for fishing grounds that would be lost if a liquefied natural gas terminal is built.

The fishermen from Mispec, New Brunswick, argue that a new dock on the Bay of Fundy and increased tanker traffic would keep them out of some of their traditional fishing areas.

They say they still don’t know what areas they will be excluded from during the construction phase, which is expected to begin this year.

David Thompson, a lobster fisherman who speaks for the 178-member group, says the owners of the facility, Irving Oil Ltd., and the federal Fisheries Department simply “ducked” the compensation issue during the meeting on Monday. Thompson says that’s unacceptable because the Environmental Impact Assessment report, completed nine months ago, directs that compensation be discussed.

Irving officials were unavailable for comment after the meeting.

Two LNG projects are proposed in the Canadian Maritimes: Irving Oil-Repsol in New Brunswick and Access Northeast Energy Inc. in Nova Scotia. At least four other projects have been proposed across New England. Voters in two Maine communities, Perry and Harpswell, have rejected plans for LNG terminals. The Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point has an agreement with developer Quoddy Bay LLC for a terminal proposed for Gleason Cove, but the project is caught up in public controversy.

A Maritimes & Northeast natural gas pipeline that serves New England can support one or possibly two LNG terminals in the region.

New Brunswick lobstermen’s spokesman Thompson said Irving officials told him they still had to wait for modeling of the project to be done and don’t know how it will affect the fishermen.

Lobstermen won’t be affected this year, but they want to know what to expect because it takes several years to learn how to fish a new part of the bay, Thompson said.

“I’m a company too. I’m a business. It takes planning and organization,” he said. “I just can’t know at the last minute, here is your exclusion zone.”

Thompson and other fishermen from the area set traps in the Irving water lot off Mispec and in the proposed shipping channels for the LNG tankers.

“If we use a kilometer for an exclusion zone then half my fishing gear will be involved,” he said.

During the meeting, the fishermen learned that construction of the pier will take place between late 2006 into 2007.

Talks also are scheduled among Transport Canada, Irving Oil and the harbor pilots but the fishermen are not included.

“They are going to decide all that for us and say, ‘Here is the deal, fishermen,'” said Thompson. “We want to be part of that.”

Another meeting with the lobster fishermen is scheduled for May 18.