Chi-Cheemaun ferry season delayed by low water levels on Lake Huron

Since the Chi-Cheemaun ferry started traversing Lake Huron between Tobermory and South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island in 1974, its schedule has been like clockwork: It started the first Friday every May and ferried thousands of people, and their cars, every day until October.

But the ferry isn’t starting this Friday; no one knows when it will.

“I felt sick when I heard that,” said Nathalie Gara-Boivin, who owns the Auberge Inn on Manitoulin Island. “The ferry brings thousands of tourists to the island. Businesses will die without it.”

Low water levels in Lake Huron have caused problems at the docks in Tobermory and South Baymouth. The ferry is now too low for the fenders that keep the boat from hitting the dock, and the company that runs the ferry says it’s not safe unless the fenders are modified.

The docks are owned and maintained by Transport Canada.

Susan Schremf, president and CEO of the Owen Sound Transportation Company, which owns the ferry, said she first raised the issue with Transport Canada two years ago. It led to a report that said the fenders need to be modified. But nothing happened, said Schremf.

“Unless the fenders are modified, we are at the mercy of rain or spring melt,” she said. “I can’t predict that; it could be weeks.”

The water must rise about 25 centimetres before the ferry can run.

In an emailed response, Transport Canada said it is talking to the province and the Owen Sound Transportation Company to “explore options to address the impacts of low water levels on the docking of the Chi-Cheemaun ferry.”

But Ontario’s minister of tourism, Michael Chan, said the docks are Ottawa’s jurisdiction and that it is trying to “unload the responsibility” onto the province.

“People’s lives should not be dependant on the water level,” he said. “Transport Canada should come in and fix the problem.”

The ferry is considered the economic driver for tourism on Manitoulin Island. Restaurants, hotels and campsites depend on the ferry to bring tourists from other parts of Ontario and as far as Europe.

Local MP Carol Hughes, a New Democrat, said repairs to the docks would cost less than $300,000.

“The cost to tourism without a ferry is unimaginable,” she said.

Lake Huron and the other Great Lakes have been struggling with low water levels for years. The problem is a long-term cycle of more evaporation as temperatures rise, and not enough water from melting snow and rain to make up for it.

“To make matters worse, the average level of ice cover has fallen dramatically since the 1970s, leading to increased evaporation,” said John Nevin of the International Joint Commission for the Great Lakes.

The water level in Lake Huron is at 175.74 metres now. Its long-term average is 176.39 metres.

Until the recent rains, conditions have been dry in the Superior, Michigan and Huron basins while Erie and Ontario have received average levels of rain and snow, Nevin said.

He also pointed out that last summer’s drought was worse on Lake Huron compared to the others.

Even if Ottawa steps in to modify the fenders now, it could still take at least six weeks for them to be ready, Schremf said.

“We know this is painful . . . but we will have to endure it.”

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Raveena Aulakh