Electric Boats May be the Answer to Waterway Issue

September 28, 2017

Electric fishing boats could be the answer to opening up the Welland Recreational Canal in St. Catherines Ontario to another user group, says David McLeod.

“We have a user group asking to fish on the water,” the Ward 2 councillor said at a Tuesday night meeting during discussion on a Go Quiet bylaw report.

“We already know who is using the waterway. How can we accommodate this user group given all other things? My solution is having electric fishing boats added to our rental program.”

He said the move would help the city avoid capital costs of building a launch ramp, avoid problems pertaining to insurance and give it control over areas where boats could go and when they could be on the water.

“It would take away environmental concerns and the discussion around erosion. We can find a way to make it work to help that specific user group do what they want to do.”

McLeod said the city could then move forward on other suggestions put forward during a series of public consultation meetings held this past spring.

The nearly 400-page report on the public consultation for the Go Quiet bylaw and alternative uses of the waterway was before committee to be received as information.

It came about more than a year ago after a motion was put forward by Ward 4 Coun. Tony DiMarco. Numerous times throughout Tuesday’s meeting, the councillor said the intent of his original motion was to ask the city to look at allowing anglers access the waterway’s north end. But the final motion passed in May of last year asked staff to prepare a “report on the current Go Quiet policy and potential alternatives to expand the use of our waterway by the general public and to report back to council.”

DiMarco said during those meetings residents were misinformed about the intent of the motion and believed it was about allowing motorized vessels on the full length of the waterway.

The Go Quiet bylaw has been in effect for 12 years and it prohibits the use of motorized watercraft on the canal, except in situations where use is approved for safety purposes.

Mayor Frank Campion said it isn’t fair to say people were misled.

“Staff did a great job in gathering the information. We asked them to do that, and that’s what they did,” he said of the consultation process and report.

Campion said everyone at the table had projects contained in the report, like a beach or fishing area, they’d like to see carried out.

“If you go through the report, there are possibly six common themes in there, not 1,000 different ideas on what we should do. The bulk of them are ‘why I want this’ or ‘why I don’t want this.’ What I think we should be asking staff to do is identify those common themes in there. I don’t think it would be hard to do.”

The mayor said those common themes could then be put before a waterway advisory committee, which was also discussed at the meeting, and then brought back to council.

“My perspective is I think there is great information that has to be distilled and turned into action plans or not turned into action plans,” said Campion.

The report was received for information and will be back before council at its meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

Source: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2017/09/27/mcleod-offers-solution-to-waterway-issue

Image source: http://2016.princecraft.com/ca/en/products/Fishing-Boats/2016/DL-Electric-Series.aspx