The Steveston Harbour Authority is planning to expand its seafood processing facility and make upgrades to its infrastructure in the coming year.
Harbour authority board chairman Robert Kiesman and general manager Jamie Gusto updated city council in July on its operations and plans.
The local non-profit organization has been working for more than a decade to aggregate "all the (possible) fishing businesses" in the Lower Mainland into one area in Steveston, explained Kiesman.
"The increase in property values all over Vancouver is making it impossible and difficult for these businesses to operate," he said. Steveston Harbour, however, has a cost advantage as it's publicly owned.
"We're trying to get all of these different companies to share it — the docks, the ice plant and so on — to save money, all in a non-profit context."
An example of this is the newly completed $800,000 crab processing facility in the old ice plant, which is public property.
North Seafood funded the project without financial help from the government or the harbour authority, explained Kiesman.
"This would probably not be viable on private property the way the property values are going outside of Vancouver," he said.
Gusto added people from outside of Vancouver are coming to them with "nowhere else to go."
North Seafoods plans to expand its seafood operations in the next few years to include "high-value species" such as salmon, tuna, black cod, shellfish, sea urchin, geoduck and lobster in Steveston Harbour Authority's Paramount Building on Trites Road, she explained.
With a self-funded investment of $1.4 million, the company will have live tanks, enhanced unloading facilities and on-site styrofoam production for seafood shipping.
According to Gusto, the facility will operate year-found and create 60 local jobs.
Steveston Harbour Authority's next project is to improve its 9,000-square-foot unloading facility on Seventh Avenue.
The facility has been used by Oceanside Seafoods to unload several million pounds of seafood a year for around 30 years, according to Kiesman.
When upgraded, it will accommodate two separate companies: Steveston Seafood Auction and Canadian Fishing, which operates the largest fishing fleet in B.C.
He added Canadian Fishing has been unable to operate in certain other areas in the Lower Mainland and has turned to the harbour authority in Richmond for help.
"You can probably imagine that getting one of the largest fishing companies in Canada to share a facility like this with a tiny company like the Seafood Auction was a difficult thing, but it's happening because it needs to happen," said Kiesman.
The harbour authority is also looking at partnering with the Musqueam Indian Band on this capital project.
Federal rules inflate dredging costs
Steveston Harbour Authority's biggest project in the past three years was to secure funding to dredge the Cannery Channel, which was expected to cost $8.5 million.
The harbour authority had been collecting dredging fees, which has amounted to $1.67 million.
In 2023, they received $2.1 million in provincial funding and about $2 million from the City of Richmond to dredge the channel adjacent to the Steveston Gulf of Georgia and Paramount Harbours.
It wasn't until a year later on Nov. 12, 2024 when the federal government finally announced a one-time funding of $2.2 million for the project.
"Again we want to thank the City of Richmond for working so closely with us to get federal funding for that project," said Kiesman at the July city council meeting.
"It was the first time (city council will) recall since 1998 that the federal government put money in, even though it's their harbour."
Consistent funding is needed for dredging, Gusto added, and the organization is working closely with city staff to problem solve the issue.
"Nobody more than me wants to solve this problem. I'm tired of begging people for money," said Gusto.
Kiesman added dredging the Cannery Channel is "not just a matter of more money and throwing money at this problem."
"There are some very ridiculous federal regulations in place that require us to spend way more money than we need to," he said.
"We could probably shave off $2 or $3 million on this $8.5 million if we pulled back on some of these regulations that really do nothing to improve anything.
"Some people think (these regulations) do, but they don't."
An initial 11,000 cubic metres of material has been removed from the channel since this February.
From now until October, dredging will focus on the "biggest problem area." The harbour authority will tender out the second and third phases of the project over the next few months, according to Gusto.
Other capital projects that have been completed in the past year include paving and upgrading the Chatham Street gravel lot with lighting, EV chargers and a clean power supply for film production companies.
The power supply replaces the film companies' diesel generators that are loud and bad for the environment, explained Gusto.
Meanwhile, 45 buildings under the harbour authority's management have been painted.
A public art program resulted in seven murals painted at Steveston Harbour, two of which were funded through the city's mural program.
Tourism Richmond also partnered with the harbour authority to educate the public about Steveston's fishing history with the Fisher's Walk — a 10-stop interpretive walk featuring informative panels installed along the Fisherman's Wharf boardwalk.
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