LITTLE CURRENT—The collision of a set of Coldwater Fisheries fish cages with a pylon of the Little Current Swing Bridge on the early morning of Christmas Eve may have been spectacular, but according to a company spokesperson, the loss for the company was nominal.
“We had been bringing them in for winter maintenance,” said company director Cameron McDonald. “They were old infrastructure.”
Although the fish cages were insured, Mr. McDonald maintains that the destruction of the cages represented “no material loss for the company.” The cages were evidently fairly old and in need of significant maintenance and repair and were in the process of being assessed when they were torn loose in winds that gusted to 90 kilometres an hour.
Rumours that the fish cages, which had previously been located at the company’s Northeast site, were being sold to aquaculture company Cole-Munro (operators of the Wabuno site) were not exactly correct. “There had been some discussions,” admitted Mr. McDonald, but added that any suggestion of a sale being in the works would have been very premature.
The collision of the cages with the swing bridge at Little Current were determined by the Ministry of Transportation to have not damaged the structure and traffic was not hindered in crossing the bridge.
Work crews from Coldwater Fisheries had to wait until the winds had abated in order to safely remove the debris, which continued last week.
