The Government of Canada enhances search and rescue services in Eastern Newfoundland

From: Canadian Coast Guard

News release

August 22, 2019                       

Old Perlican, Newfoundland and Labrador – The Canadian Coast Guard plays an essential role in helping to ensure the safety of mariners and the protection of Canada’s marine environment and coastal communities. Through the Oceans Protection Plan, the Government of Canada is working to improve marine safety and protect Canada’s waters and coasts today and for the future.

Today, the Member of Parliament for Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, Churence Rogers, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, unveiled a new Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue station in Old Perlican, Newfoundland and Labrador. MP Rogers also took part in a dedication to service ceremony for a new 19.2-metre lifeboat to be stationed in Old Perlican, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Sacred Bay.

The new station was created under the Oceans Protection Plan to enhance the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to marine emergencies, including search and rescue, and environmental response, in the waters off eastern Newfoundland. Following a review, this part of the Avalon Peninsula was identified as a location that would benefit from increased marine search and rescue capacity. The station will welcome its crew in the coming weeks, and will operate as a 24-hours-a-day seasonal station from May to December each year, depending on ice conditions.

Sustainability was a key consideration in the design and construction of this new station, which consists of an operations building with crew accommodations and a garage with workshop space for the station’s fast rescue craft. A new wharf and floating dock was constructed to accommodate the CCGS Sacred Bay.

Under the Oceans Protection Plan, the Canadian Coast Guard has already opened a new search and rescue station in St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, with its own dedicated lifeboat. Construction of a new station in Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador, homeport to the new CCGS Conception Bay, is currently in progress.

Quotes

“The new search and rescue station and lifeboat in Old Perlican will enhance marine safety to eastern Newfoundland. We are ensuring the Canadian Coast Guard’s professional and highly trained personnel have the equipment they need to respond to marine emergencies, including search and rescue and environmental response.”

The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson

“I’m pleased to unveil this new search and rescue station and lifeboat in Old Perlican that will benefit an area where many people make a living on the water. Having a new, permanent, Canadian Coast Guard presence here on the tip of the Avalon Peninsula is another example of our government delivering on its commitment to enhance local marine safety resources in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Member of Parliament for Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, Churence Rogers

Quick facts

  • In addition to the three new search and rescue stations in Newfoundland and Labrador, four new stations are being opened in British Columbia as part of the Oceans Protection Plan. This includes stations in Tahsis, Hartley Bay, Port Renfrew, and a new station in Victoria, which opened in August 2018.

  • Funding for the seven new stations totals $108.1 million over five years, with ongoing funding of $12.2 million creating 56 new positions to support search and rescue operations from these new stations.

  • CCGS Sacred Bay is one of 20 new high-endurance search and rescue lifeboats being built for Coast Guard search and rescue stations across Canada.

  • Construction of the Old Perlican search and rescue station is registered with the Canada Green Building Council under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. A LEED silver designation is anticipated.

Associated links

Contacts

Jocelyn Lubczuk
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans
and the Canadian Coast Guard
343-548-7863
Jocelyn.Lubczuk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Media Relations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard
709-772-3375
Media.NL@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

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