Minister Shea Announces a $1.8 million Contract for Tignish Harbour

News Release

Contract awarded to Gaudette's Transit Mix Ltd

December 10, 2014 - Tignish, Prince Edward Island

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Regional Minister for PEI and MP for Egmont, today announced that the Government of Canada has awarded a $1.8 million contract through a public tendering process to Gaudette’s Transit Mix Ltd for a major harbour infrastructure project that will be carried out over two years at Tignish Harbour, Prince Edward Island.

The work to be carried out will mean:

safer berthage of vessels following reconstruction of two walls at the Tignish boat pen;
prevention of erosion and improvement of water flow and reduction of sediment deposits in the access channel through the installation of shore protection on the northern boundary of the channel; and
provision of additional berthage as a result of extending the wharf at the southern boat pen.

This work follows key recommendations resulting from a coastal study and structural assessments that examined various technical solutions to address safety and operational needs of harbour users at Tignish and Judes Point.

This project is being funded from Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2014 which provided an additional investment of $40 million over two years for repair, construction and maintenance projects at Canada’s small craft harbours.

New investments in infrastructure were recently announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper under the New Building Canada Plan, which includes an additional $288 million for small craft harbours across Canada over the next two years.

Quick Facts

Small craft harbours support nearly 90% of all fishing landings in Canada. In 2012, the landed value of Prince Edward Island fisheries was over $143 million.
Tignish and Judes Point are strategically located within an area having one of the highest concentrations of fishing vessels in PEI. There are approximately 161 home fleet vessels and 819 fish harvesters using the facilities at both Tignish and Judes Point.
The primary fisheries are lobster, herring, snow crab, mackerel, oysters and tuna. Landings in 2010 represented an estimated value over $15.2M.
In the last five fiscal years, $1.6M has been invested at this harbour, which includes $694K for the reconstruction of wharves and $389K for the reconstruction of a boat pen.

Quotes

“I am proud to work with the Harbour Authority of Jude’s Point/Tignish to improve the facilities that enable fishermen to safely and profitably do their work. Tignish harbour is vital to PEI’s fishing industry. This investment will help improve our local economy and foster job creation, for the hard-working folks of Tignish.”

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Regional Minister for PEI and MP for Egmont