HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-04-17, Page 101 0 Lakeshore Advance • Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Boaters pull up stakes to go to other harbours -1
CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 1
By 1908 there was a flour-
ishing fishing industry with
A.W. Selkirk Fish Company of
Port Huron (Michigan) send-
ing a tug three tithes weekly to
collect fish catch. Sailboats to
empty pound nets were com-
mon sights. Cub Manore and
Syrtis Green learned of Grand
Bend's fishing opportunities
with the Tiedemans, Gills,
DesJardines and other fami-
lies all joining the prosperous
industry. Local beaches and
the abundance of dockage in
the harbor and along the Aus-
able River attracted boaters
from all over Canada and the
United States.
Recently, the impact of the
low lake levels on those who
live on the Great Lakes
is becoming dramatic. Even
with the recent rain, the prob-
lems are more long-term,
ranging from reduced snow-
fall around Lake Superior, to
evaporation from less ice
cover in winter, to dredging of
the St (:lair River many years
ago that has increased the
outflow from Lake I luron. The
low levels will continue to be
an issue and at this point at
least 20 boaters from Grand
Bend have moved to other
harbours. A big portion of our
tourism economy is now in
jeopardy because of the dra-
matic drop in Lake Huron's
water level. "The economic
impact this harbor has on the
community is strong. And
when things are slow, the gro-
cery stores, the restaurants,
the hardware stores- everyone
suffers," say many of the boat-
ers, some of whom are leaving
Grand Bend's harbour.
With the Great Lakes water
levels at historic lows, the only
way to keep harbors open is
by excavating or dredg-
ing. But money for dredging
has dried up. "You have
almost a perfect storm hitting
the Great lakes harbors," one
boater said. "You've got low
water and you've got lack of
inaintenance, lack of dredg-
ing, lack of infrastructure. You
combine those, and you've
got situations where we truly
face a crisis throughout the
Great Lakes, harbor after har-
bor, and it's just growing, And
it's going to be much worse.
And it's going to change, ulti-
mately, the way of life and the
quality of life throughout the
Great Lakes unless some-
thing's done about it:'
With the probable loss of 16
members at GBYC hind five at
the Cruising Club, low levels
may not be the only issues
these boaters are dealing
with. 'lie municipality, in this
case l.tunbton Shores, applies
to Ausable Bayfield Conserva-
tion Authority for permits for
dredging. (The ARCA came
into existence in July 1946. At
that time they were called the
Ausahle River Conservation
Authority with Port Franks
issues being their first.)
Every boater the Lakeshore
'lliwywee war.
'Grand Ben
ptometry
Presents the
Frame & Sng1ss, Show
,
Wednesday April 24, 2013
i lam - 5pm
01.3 Designer Frames & Sunglasses
take center stage at our Clinic
for this one day show.
'CS
sunqlassrove...
Refreshments Eye
°° 8 ' 1 & More! A ,
tel"
1 1 i
I I 1
a'Inillrifr
e
1,-. • •,,,.
from the Abs of Lynda Hillman-Rspley
Recreational boating has been part of Grand Bend for a long time.
Advance spoke to said this
was done "probably too late."
'They say the permits should
have been applied for last
fall, "like many other har-
bours dick' The permits are
for the river mouths only and
that is where Mytoi, and
Charlie Miller come in. The
municipality contracts thein.
Mytoi can only work in pretty
calm wilier: They put a post
down into the bottom and
use a large prop to blow the
sand out to the sides of the
channel. The next blow
pushes the sand hack into
the channel, and the dredger
can't deal with it until calm
conditions prevail again. "it's
a very inefficient solution to
our channel conditions,' say
the boaters; although it
appears the municipality is
looking at using more sophis-
ticated dredging equipment
in 2013.
The current staff or council
cannot be blamed for low
water levels, just their too -
long delay in dealing with
theta" say Grand Rend boat-
ers. They acknowledged
Lambton Shores are talking
about improved dredging,
but just as far up river as the
launch ramp and other rem-
edies. "It's Just a reality that
they're months too late." Lake
and river levels have been
dropping for more than the
past year, and fewer boats are
visiting Grand Bend because
it can he dangerous to enter
this harbour in any sort of
westerly blow. Worse, by far,
say the boaters when dredg-
ing hasn't been done. The
importance of having a deep
channel entrance can't be
understated. "imagine if the
harbour entrance could
always be kept 6 feet deep,
which it hasn't. if there are 3'
waves out of the west, which
are quite common, that
means the troughs are only 4
1/2 feet deep while the peaks
are at 7 1/2 feet. Many boats
could easily bit bottom, with
potentially catastrophic
results. You don't want to risk
it, especially if you have
found the channel to be 5'
deep or less in calm water."
Some of those leaving say
they are leaving because they
know their slips will be shal-
low this year, and based on
last year's experience, even It
their boat floats in the river
most of the time, they're not
sure if they will be able to get
out on the lake or back safely
very often. One frustrated
boater said he can't get to the
gas docks and that would
mean 1,200 gallons. "Lamb -
ton Shores has not been
proactive on dredging, dis-
couraging our members in
the 2012 season. Dredging is
like an afterthought for this
council,' he said.
(;rand Bend boaters with a
permanent slip can easily
spend $350) to $40)0 here on
membership and other boat -
related expenses, besides
groceries and beverages. For
20 boats lost, that figure
could easily exceed $80,000
per season.
Many of these boaters have
been here for years and say
Grand Bend is and has
always been unique for mari-
ners. "Unfortunately it
appears council does not
understand the impact the
harbour has to the economy
because if they did, years ago
their priority would have
been going after funding for
new harbour facilities when
the government money was
there." You have a great
beach, downtown, arenas but
the "facilities for the boaters
are embarrassing"
And then there is parking.
As one GBYC member
explained, "Until a few years
ago, we could park in front of
our slips overnight, no prob-
lem, no charge. Then Lamb -
ton Shores initiated the park-
ing pass program for River
Road, and we paid for annual
permits. They began to limit
the passes our members
could get, suggesting the
municipality was being gen-
erous in granting GBYC so
many passes, considering
River Road is terribly
congested."
No one disagrees that River
Road is congested. As one
GBYC member put it: "On
most weekends, boat trailers
block the road down to one
narrow lane, against laws and
fire regulations. Parking in
this manner is not being tick-
eted or enforced. it is a frus-
tration for any regular resi-
dent of River Road. At night,
even on long weekends, it's a
different story. There is no
congestion when parking
passes are required, yet our
members have been ticketed.
You could shoot a cannon
down the road. Requests for
our members to have more
(paid -for!) passes available
have met with strong resist-
ance from the municipality,
who seem to be unable to
hear the argument that the
congestion issue is a daytime
issue."
"As a result, we are only
able to provide overnight
parking permits for about
half of our members, let
alone any of their overnight
guests. For social events with
alcohol involved, this sends
the wrong message that vehi-
cles need to he moved out of
the area when they clearly
are not in the way."
When you take these
issues, "which seem to range
somewhere between indif-
ference and hostility" it's not
surprising to find so many
Grand Bend boaters looking
to harbours that are welcom-
ing in more ways than offer-
ing deeper water. The har-
bours they are moving to
have more boaters, and likely
that leads to a greater recog-
nition of their contribution to
the local economy. Grand
Bend does not seem to rec-
ognize this contribution,
according to our boaters. As
one noted, "'There will be
fewer this year, and we think
most who have left will never
return"