Troubled waters for island residents

Doris Tucker, 71, is in a tight spot. She’s caught between hopes of continuing to live in her hometown, and the reality, seen by many other residents, that the aging community of Little Bay Islands has no long-term future.

“My main goal is to stay here as long as I can,” she said.

Located in Notre Dame Bay, with fewer than 100 year-round residents, Little Bay Islands’ prospects have been murky ever since Cold North Seafoods made a request last spring to transfer its crab licence from Little Bay Islands to a plant in St. Joseph’s.

The province's Fish Processing Licensing Board later declined that request in a decision also accepted by Fisheries Minister Clyde Jackman. But now the plant is in need of a new operator.

Last week, Deputy Mayor Jim Forward told the local Transcontinental newspaper, The Nor’wester, that the plant’s owner was going to drain the pressure vessels. Much of the equipment inside the plant had already been removed.

With the community’s lone major employer potentially closing its doors for good, what hope remains for an aging population with few resources at its disposal?

That question was considered during an information session on the provincial government’s relocation policy, held June 22 and attended by a representative of the Department of Municipal Affairs.

Coun. Dennis Budgell set the wheels in motion for the meeting after gauging interest from more than half the island’s residents. He had initially asked council to arrange for the meeting, but it elected not to get involved.

George Tucker, a retiree born and raised in Little Bay Islands, used to work at the fish plant. He told The Telegram he would like to receive a buyout from the provincial government because of a lack of services available to residents.

“You have to leave the island to go for groceries or whatever else you need,” he said, adding he believes the vast majority of the town’s residents are interested in resettling.

Morris Rector operated a store in the community for more than two years, but lack of business forced him to close it in 2009.

“When we came here, it worked out quite well, but then as people started to move away, we had to close the store because there weren’t enough people here to keep it going,” said Rector, a retired Canadian Forces member who moved to Little Bay Islands in 2006.

He said he believes the fish plant’s troubles, combined with the advanced age of residents, makes resettlement inevitable, whether it happens this year or the next.

The Brig: Kodiak pair busted in theft of fish-processing gear

On 5/24/11 a 69-year-old male resident of Kodiak reported the theft of commercial fish-processing equipment. Investigation revealed that approximately $4,000 worth of aluminum and stainless steel equipment had been taken from the victim's storage lot on Rezanof Drive on or about May 24. The stolen equipment, some of which was custom-made for salmon roe processing, was located the following day at a Kodiak metal recycling facility. Troopers identified two suspects in the theft: James Earl Deater, 30, and Sarah Skye Korn, 25, both of Kodiak. On 6/18/11 troopers forwarded criminal charges to the Kodiak district attorney's office. Deater and Korn are both charged with felony theft and misdemeanor criminal trespass.

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