Waterway traffic dropping
Down 13-22% in May,june
Despite cuts to hours and increases to fees, Parks Canada is attributing a slow start to the boating season on the TrentSevern Waterway to spring’s cold, wet weather.
Numbers released to The Examiner by the federal agency show that 3,198 boats travelled down the Trent-Severn in May and 12,749 in June.
That makes for a decrease of 22% and 13% from a five-year average of 4,096 boats in May and 14,583 in June.
Springtime in the Kawarthas wasn’t the greatest this year. May was cool with an average temperature of 13 C and 87 millimetres of precipitation. Melissa Larose, with Parks Canada’s communications division, pointed out that most of the colder days took place on weekends.
June was slightly warmer and a lot dryer, with an average temperature of 14 C and 37 millimetres of precipitation.
But Jill Quast, co-owner of Bobcaygeon-based HappyDays Houseboats, isn’t so sure it’s that simple. She said there’s been a definite decrease in her business, and not all of it can be attributed to a nasty spell of weather.
The controversy and negative attention the Trent-Severn Waterway received during the winter hasn’t helped, she said.
In November, Parks Canada announced that it was reducing its hours of operation along the canal by 30%.
Two months later, Parks Canada proposed increasing fees for the 2014 season, which included a new daytime mooring fee of 50 cents per foot of boat length. Overnight mooring would have jumped from 90 cents to $1.25 per foot, a seasonal mooring pass would have cost $20 instead of $10.80 per foot and a seasonal lockage pass would have jumped to $15 from $8.80 per foot.
Municipal officials and MPs were quick to criticize the proposal, and some business owners who make their living on the Trent-Severn Waterway voiced concerns that the increases would bankrupt their business.
In May Parks Canada announced that it would freeze lockage rates at 2008 levels for the next three years.
Quast said that long-term boaters — those who would travel the Great Lakes and take a spin up the Trent-Severn Waterway during their trip — could have been influenced by all the negative hoopla and made alternate plans. Those boaters, she said, wouldn’t want to take a chance on a system surrounded by controversy.
Under the new schedule the locks were opening at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. until June 20. Quast said a 10 a.m. start is pretty late for most long-trip boaters, who want to get going early in the morning when the water is at its best.
Later hours are better for seasonal users, she said, cottagers and vacationers who may enjoy an idle morning before taking a spin on the canal.
Quast also pointed out that there are a lot of other elements that could be affecting the boating season.
Blue-green algae was recently discovered near Pigeon Lake. Blue-green algae produces a toxin, and the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit told boaters and residents using the lake water to find an alternate water source as a precaution.
Hurricane Sandy, which hit eastern Canada and the eastern United States, has also influenced the season. Quast said five or six New Jersey tour boats cancelled their annual trips to Bobcaygeon this year, resulting in a revenue loss of $12,000.
The spring weather wasn’t great, she acknowledged, and private boaters who moor at the marina have been slow to come in.
But Quast pointed out that the lower numbers don’t mean the system isn’t busy.
The water is full of boats, she said, and so are the locks.
An email from Parks Canada states that the agency is optimistic boating numbers will pick up as the summer continues.
It’s an optimism Quast said she shares.