Report highly ranks Lewisporte Marina

LEWISPORTE - A report prepared for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) by TRACT Consulting is a very positive document as far as the Lewisporte marina is concerned.

The Marina Strategy Study was implemented in late 2006 and the report was completed for ACOA and the provincial Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development last October. The report was made available to the public earlier this month.

The Lewisporte Yacht Club, Economic Development Committee and Town of Lewisporte are all pleased with the recommendations in the report as well as how the Lewisporte marina fairs in the document.

Rev. Arthur Elliott, Lewisporte Town manager Perry Pond and Yacht Club Commodore Lloyd Fudge are all pleased with how Lewisporte fairs in the report.

"This report points to Lewisporte as a prime for further development of the marina that we have," said Rev. Elliott.

The decision to have the study completed came about, according to Rev. Elliott as a result of the great number of requests ACOA and the provincial government have been receiving to assist and enable a large number of ports throughout the province in developing marinas.

ACOA has received 39 requests in recent years for funding to develop marinas in the province.

"So ACOA along with Innovation Trade and Rural Development commissioned the Marine Strategy Report," said Rev. Elliott. "TRACT worked very hard on this report, they visited all the ports that were relevant to the idea of developing a marine strategy.

"There were a number of reasons why the report was produced but one of the essential reasons was that they wanted to prepare an action plan for the development of the marine tourism industry which would identify specific product development initiatives to be undertaken by government."

The people involved in the compiling the report visited the marina in Lewisporte and liked what they saw. They did consultations with the stakeholders in Lewisporte as well as people trying to develop marinas in various parts of the general area from Glovertown to Botwood.

"It is obvious that what they saw here in Lewisporte, they liked," said Rev. Elliott.

Although the report speaks highly of Lewisporte, Rev. Elliott was quick to caution that it is just a report. He said there are numerous recommendations contained in the report and which ones government will see fit to act upon, they can't say.

"Hopefully they all will (be accepted) but this is a very comprehensive report with a great many recommendations," said Rev. Elliott. "in making their assessment of marinas in this province, Lewisporte comes out tremendously well." In order to assess the marinas in the province, each one was tagged with a label - from L-1, L-2, L-3, Home Ports and Gateway Ports.

"Lewisporte is classified in the top category - an L-1," said Rev. Elliott.

"Notre Dame Bay will be promoted as a premiere recreation boating destination in the province," Rev. Elliott read from the document. "Then to back that up they say that 'Lewisporte is next to the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club, the most well developed marina in the province'."

The report goes on talk of a full service marina being proposed for Lewisporte and a marine service centre with docking and marine repair services.

According to Mr. Pond, Iceland was the model used for this study.

"What TRACT did was they looked at Iceland, Iceland was the model they used in terms of developing an industry when it comes to recreational boating and the idea of circle navigation, " said Mr. Pond, noting that the report talks about circle navigating the Island of Newfoundland as part of a big marketing opportunity.

The study then determined the sailing times to strategically place marinas throughout the province.

"Lewisporte was considered a homeport when it come to that - the ability to either circle navigate or to do touring in various bays around the province," said Mr. Pond. "They went on to highlight what constituted a homeport in terms of how they classified them - adjacency to the airport was very significant in that classification."

The commodore of the Yacht Club said he is pleased with the document.

"This is all positive and this is at a time when we need it and the Town needs it," said Mr. Fudge. "

All three encouraged marine groups and stakeholders to get a copy of this study and read it. There will be copies available at the Lewisporte Town Hall and the Yacht Club that people can stop by to look at.

The Economic Development Committee, Town of Lewisporte and Lewisporte Yacht Club will be examining the document in detail to see how it will benefit the local marina.