Meeting discuss

marine service needs

Robert Monteith

February 7 , 2008.

Petersburg Economic Development Council (PEDC) hosted a meeting Friday night to discuss the needs of the marine service sector. Around 40 people attended the meeting and discussed a variety of issues for which PEDC could possibly provide economic assistance.

PEDC Coordinator Liz Cabrera explained the purpose of the meeting. “From PEDC’s perspective, we were trying to establish if there really was a need in the community based on facilities, and to hear from service providers on what they feel they have already and what they feel they need,” she said. “We were trying to decide if our next step is to spend money on a feasibility study.”

Cabrera stated that a feasibility study may soon be done on a haul out facility, a topic that dominated the meeting’s time. “A haul out is what we’re talking about mostly, and then along with that, there was a lot of interest in having space to work on boats on dry land,” she said. “In general, it was something that folks felt we did need in town. Exactly how it will be organized is still up in the air, but there is definitely some interest in having that kind of facility for both small boats and larger boats.”

With new environmental standards in place that require certain cleaning procedures to take place on land, rather than in specific nautical areas, a haul out facility is starting to be considered a necessity for coastal communities heavily dependent on their fleet. At the meeting, fishermen were asked what features would be most beneficial to them should a new facility be constructed. “That’s one of the questions we asked too, is what kind of characteristics we should be looking for,” said Cabrera. “One thing that was important was that the haul out not be dependent on the tide so boats could be pulled out at any time. There was interest in making sure there was adequate power and utilities in general. People were also interested in having adequate amounts of space to work on boats. There was some interest in having covered spaces as well.”

Who would claim ownership of a new facility has yet to be determined, but Cabrera mentioned a few sites that may be a feasible home for it, including the Scow Bay Turnaround and the lot behind the cold storage facility.

PEDC will decide whether or not to do a feasibility study at their next meeting.