(photo ec.gc.ca)
The council wants Doppler radar installed in Yarmouth County to give better coverage.
Deputy Warden John Cunningham says Environment Canada’s current Doppler radar in Halifax is inadequate for fishermen and mariners in this region.
“They have one up at the Stanfield International Airport and it does not quite cover the south west portion of the area. The fishermen do not use the Environment Canada forecast. The whole point is to make sure that our fishermen have a forecasting system in Canada that they can trust. Also with the environment changing, the different kinds of storms, the weather is changing and we need to be on top of that.”
The municipality made an initial request in 2014 but it went nowhere.
Cunningham says a new request for Doppler radar was sent out by the municipality on July 24th of this year to both the federal Minister of Environment and MP Colin Fraser.
He says a reply was received on September 21.
Cunningham says the letter came from Environment Canada.
“Stating that Environment Canada is currently updating 21 of the weather stations with an option to update 14 more but that doesn’t include any new weather stations in Nova Scotia.”
Cunningham says they have letters of support from municipalities from Barrington to Annapolis and they continue to lobby the federal government to install a Doppler weather station in Yarmouth County.
“We’re going to being pushing that the federal government add another station or at least have a presentation by Environment Canada, or an official, to come down and talk to us because we’re very concerned. We want our fishermen and also other industries that use weather forecasting to have accurate forecasts.”
