jimintoronto
Well-known Member
The town cannot be reached by road, because there isn't one. The town is only accessible by water or by float plane. The current population is now only 78 people, most of whom are seniors. The school has just 4 students. In the distant past the town had 4 fish processing plants, and about 500 residents, but the last fish plant closed in 2009, and most people moved away. The Government of Newfoundland is offering $270,000 to each home owner, to cover the cost of moving to another larger community along the coast, which has more services including a school and a hospital and a road connection to the Provincial highway network. The town is just not economically viable anymore. Here is a link to a news article about the situation. Tiny former fishing village along Newfoundland's south coast considering resettlement (msn.com)
This is something that is not new in Newfoundland. For more than fifty years, small out port fishing villages have been slowly dying, and the people have had to move ( sometimes floating their houses to a new location on a barge ) The failure of the off shore Cod fishery has simply added to the troubles of the Newfoundland society. The island is a tough place to live on, and its not called The Rock for nothing. A large island situated out in the Atlantic Ocean that gets some of the worst winter storms in all of Canada, Newfoundlanders are some of the nicest and most welcoming people you will ever meet. To paraphrase It's some tough out there today buddy, come along and lets have a mug up to put some warmth in your guts. I had the pleasure to serve with some Newfoundlanders in the Canadian Forces. It could be 3am, snowing and blowing with a 60 kph wind and the Newfs would be laughing and telling jokes as we were working in the dark. Tough people, but full of fun and laughter. JimB.
This is something that is not new in Newfoundland. For more than fifty years, small out port fishing villages have been slowly dying, and the people have had to move ( sometimes floating their houses to a new location on a barge ) The failure of the off shore Cod fishery has simply added to the troubles of the Newfoundland society. The island is a tough place to live on, and its not called The Rock for nothing. A large island situated out in the Atlantic Ocean that gets some of the worst winter storms in all of Canada, Newfoundlanders are some of the nicest and most welcoming people you will ever meet. To paraphrase It's some tough out there today buddy, come along and lets have a mug up to put some warmth in your guts. I had the pleasure to serve with some Newfoundlanders in the Canadian Forces. It could be 3am, snowing and blowing with a 60 kph wind and the Newfs would be laughing and telling jokes as we were working in the dark. Tough people, but full of fun and laughter. JimB.
