Removing lightkeepers perilous, skipper says
Transport Canada wants to automate Green Island lighthouse
Last Updated: Friday, September 4, 2009 | 4:13 PM NT
CBC News
The skipper of a ferry that carries more than 10,000 people a year between St-Pierre-Miquelon and Fortune Bay on the Burin Peninsula says it will be dangerous if Transport Canada removes lightkeepers from the lighthouse on Green Island.
Transport Canada wants to automate the lighthouse.
Capt. Charlie Dominaux of the MV Arethusa said he counts on the lightkeepers to let him know if the entrance to the bay area is safe. He said the weather is often worse than forecast by Environment Canada.
"Based on their information, I'm staying home, or I go. I'm carrying precious cargo. I don't want to take chances, and I'm sure the passengers don't want me to take chances.
"Without those lightkeepers I have nothing," he said.
Dominaux said fishermen and boat owners in both St-Pierre-Miquelon and Newfoundland fear that automation of the lighthouse would put them at risk.
Green Island's lightkeepers have twice directly saved people's lives, including a family, Dominaux said.
"I think there was 4 to 5 people there. I think they were clinging to the boat all night. The lightkeepers saw them in the morning. They put the boat out … and rescued them, as far as I know."
Dominaux said he and boat owners plan to fight to keep the lightkeepers. Transport Canada plans to remove them by November.
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