June icebergs causing headaches for Quebec fishermen

As Harold King sets out on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, two weeks before the official start of summer, he has to manoeuvre his boat through strong currents and chilling winds to set his crab traps.

But King says this year, he also has to keep an eye out for icebergs.

"They can do a lot of damage if anything hooks onto your fishing gear," King said. "We've never seen ones like this come this far up the coast."

King fishes with his son Dean from the town of Kegaska, on Quebec's Lower North Shore.

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The small town is the last stop on Highway 138, the road that stretches more than 1,000 kilometres east of Quebec City.

The duo says this year's fishing season has been particularly difficult with severe weather conditions and cold temperatures. The ice is an added challenge.

Fishermen, ships at dock

Ernest Rowsell, a 59-year-old fisherman from Harrington Harbour, agrees.

"I've been fishing since 1972, and I've never seen anything like it."

His son Andre joined him for the crab season in April, but they ended up spending several days on the mainland.

"Today all the boats are tied up to the wharf," Andre Rowsell said, adding that fewer catches at sea also mean less work for the local fish-processing plants.

The Lower North Shore's fishermen's association is also worried about the impact on the region's economy.

"Seventy-five per cent of fishermen are affected," said the association's director, Paul Nadeau.

"If the ice supply from the North Atlantic keeps coming, we're not out of the woods yet — or out of the ice, as it were."

Nadeau said even if the ice moves away in the next week, surface water will remain cold. When the water's too cold for the taste of local lobsters, they stay at lower depths, far from the lobster traps.

Fishermen will also want to make up for lost time.

"It's going to cram up fisheries over a very short period," said Nadeau, who said he may have to approach the government to ask for financial compensation for his members.

Passenger ship stranded offshore

But getting out on the water isn't the only challenge.

Reaching the coast is also proving to be difficult for the Bella Desgagnés, the passenger and supply ship that services the coast from April to February.

On Thursday, the Bella was moored off the coast from Harrington Harbour because of the thick ice pack and heavy fog.

The company's president and general manager, Francis Roy, says he hasn't seen such conditions since the 1990's.

''We do understand our customers are waiting for us, we're not taking it lightly,'' Roy said, adding that the Relais Nordik also has to ensure the safety of the vessel, its crew and the 51 passengers aboard. 

''It's a balance we're trying to maintain in everyone's interest.''

Roy was expecting the vessel to reach its destination by Thursday night.

An icebreaker from the Canadian Coast Guard will accompany the Bella Desgagnés for the rest of its trip, all the way up to Blanc-Sablon.

Northeast winds to blame

The coast guard's ice-breaking program superintendent for the region, Isabelle Pelchat, explained that a combination of factors created this ''perfect storm.''

''The last month we've seen dominant winds coming in from northeast, pushing the ice down the Labrador coast,'' she explained.

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Pelchat said the current carried in ''old ice'' from the Arctic, that formed two or three seasons ago, which is ''thicker and stronger."

Northwest winds should play in favour of the residents and fishermen of the Lower North Shore and push the ice pack away from the coast, but only for the short term.

''Sunday the wind will be Southwest and push the ice in the direction of Blanc-Sablon, so we can expect to have pressure there," Pelchat said.