The CAT ferry service stopped running earlier this year. (CBC)

The mayor of Yarmouth, N.S. said the town should soon find out whether it will take over the ferry terminal.

The Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission is in talks with Transport Canada over control of the existing terminal.

Phil Mooney said the town needs the terminal in order to attract a new ferry service, after the high-speed CAT service was cancelled earlier this year.

"We've had a ferry service in Nova Scotia coming to Yarmouth every year since 1842, except for a couple of years during World War II," said Mooney. "You know, we're the gateway to Nova Scotia and we're going to have to step up to the plate here as a community and show them that we can get a boat back."

Mooney said once the town gets the terminal, it can seek proposals for ferry operators. Seven companies have reportedly expressed interest, according to the port authority.

The provincial government ended its subsidy of the CAT earlier this year and the ferry made its final run to Bar Harbour, Maine on April 16.

Bay Ferries Ltd. had wanted at least $6 million from the government in 2010 to keep the CAT running between Yarmouth and the Maine cities of Bar Harbor and Portland.

The ferry between Yarmouth and Maine began in 1997. The Nova Scotia government has given $18.9 million to the ferry service since the fall of 2007.