Coast Guard and DFO have a plan in place to replace the vessel Point Henry very soon with a 47’ foot open ‘Life Boat’ style of craft for " Fisheries enforcement". This federal agency apparently wants to ‘standardize’ all of its vessels, surely to god there should be exceptions to this. There is a petition going around town in opposition to this and to save the point Henry, ( for what little good it will do if the bureaucrats have already decided ). Not certain of many of the details, but any and all commercial and recreational mariners should be very concerned about this.
The POINT HENRY is not used for fisheries enforcement. It is a search and rescue boat only. The smaller boat will make any calls more difficult. There isn’t even a head on the 47 footer only a port a pot. The crew will be very crowded and if they have to carry passengers it will be very difficult. I doubt it will have the towing power it now has to assist boats that are on the rocks or need to be towed to town because of breakdown. There are many many things that will change for the worse when they do this replacement. Yes, sign the petition and get ahold of Nathan Cullen, he is actively working on this. This boat is critical to the villages and to boaters.
Nathan Cullen via twitter: twitter.com/nathancullen/statuse … 5406047232
“Hey Prince Rupert - sign the petition to save the CCS Point Henry and keep our waters safe.”
If the amount of response to this is indicating the amount of support we have to our one and only SEARCH AND RESCUE boat on this coast then we are in serious trouble. These could be sad days.
This talk of replacing of the Point Henry comes very soon after the Decommissioning of the Coast Guard 253 Sikorsky Helicopter (the Big Red one).
Regarding the searching & rescuing (and protection) of our harbour’s Fishermen, Sea Plane pilots, and other Sea-Farers, the government has already been leaving its citizens stranded since long before the recent cut-backs on it’s Rescue Fleet.
Coast Guard Helicopters had overhauled their Rescue Hoist 3 years ago (to the tune of several thousand dollars), though they NEVER installed it on the helicopter! Their reason was that it was too expensive to keep the Pilots and Engineers trained in its use. This means that since the time of the overhaul right up to the retirement of CG 253, the Coast Guard rescue helicopter was in fact NOT CAPABLE of performing Water Extraction rescues… They could only “spot” immersed victims and wait for the Point Henry to make the rescue.
Now, as a cost saving measure, the Sikorsky has been removed from service, while the overhauled Hoist continues to sit on the hangar floor. If a Hoist Rescue mission were to be required, the victims would have to wait 4 hours for the nearest Hoist-Ready Rescue Helicopter to fly up from Comox… That is unless the American Coast Guard is in the neighbourhood at the time, where they could rescue our citizens for us!
Remove the Point Henry and what will be left protecting our coast and its people?