Residents of an isolated town on Newfoundland's south coast worry the town could topple because of a new wave of migration to Alberta.

The population of Burgeo has fallen by about a third over the past 20 years.
(CBC)

About 300 people in Burgeo — which has a population of slightly less than 1,600 — have left since Christmas or have made plans to go.

Busloads of prospective workers have been heading regularly from Burgeo to the airport in Deer Lake for flights to work in Alberta's booming oil economy.

"I got no other choice — I got to go," said Harvey Hann, an inshore fisherman who says quotas are now so low that he cannot afford to rely on the fishery alone to provide for his family.

The workers will spend the next four months living in remote camps, working as many as 14 hours a day — and for as little as $10 per hour.

Hann said that beats sitting at home, out of work.

"I go to Alberta in the wintertime, and in the summertime I come home and catch the little bit of fish that I have got to catch," he said.

Mayor George Reid said the current exodus is the largest he has ever seen. While the work is not permanent, he is worried about the implications.

Residents are concerned about Burgeo's long-term future.
(CBC)

"What's happening now is the big numbers that are going, and some of these people are staying away, of course, and their children are going away, and they're staying, [too]," Reid said.

While younger residents have been leaving Burgeo for years, it's now experienced fisheries workers in their 40s who are going, Reid said.

Oliver Ingram, an inshore fisherman, said he has mixed feelings about taking the work, but also has no choice.

"You got a family, [you've] got to go away to work — it's just as simple as that," Ingram told CBC News.

"I bought a boat there a couple of years ago [for] $130,000, and now I'm in a pinch to try to pay for it."

Western magnet

The Alberta oilpatch has been a magnet for years for tens of thousands of people in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly those heading for the Fort McMurray area.

A recent study by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council estimated that 5,000 people from the province moved to Alberta in one 12-month period alone.

Ida Northcott, a former fish plant worker, said she will soon join those numbers.

Northcott, who has never worked outside of the province before, is planning to leave for Alberta to join her fiancé.

"I find it very difficult because we always did things together ... and now it's like, OK, you got to deal with this on your own. Now I'm left to bar up my home and just leave," she said.

"It's pretty sad."