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I'll have my drink straight up, save the iceberg for the tourists

Iceberg shortage causes tourism woes

Last updated Jul 7 2005 09:30 AM NDT
CBC News

The interests of tourism and industry have been clashing over the lone iceberg off St. Anthony. An unusual shortage of icebergs off the Northern Peninsula this summer has already hurt the local tourism industry, which bases its marketing on the parade of icebergs that normally float by the island's northeast coast. Tourism operator Paul Alcock says with only one iceberg to be seen near St. Anthony, he is literally seeing his livelihood disappear before his eyes. The Iceberg Water Corp. has been taking pieces of the iceberg, with Alcock saying the tourism industry is bearing the brunt. "In some cases, they're using shotguns to force pieces of ice to fracture, and of course this is rapidly increasing the destruction of these icebergs that people are coming here to see," says Alcock. Martin Goebel, director of water resources management for the provincial government, says the Iceberg Water has a permit to harvest ice, and is allowed to use a shotgun. However, the company is not supposed to interfere with tour boat operations. Goebel says the company's activities have only posed a problem this year because of the shortage of bergs. "Normally, if there's lots of icebergs around, the harvesters have more flexibility as to where they can go and would never have a problem of staying out of the way of where a tour operator is planning to go," he says. Goebel says Iceberg Water has agreed to slow down its harvesting. This is not the first time tourism and iceberg-harvesters have had conflicts.

FROM JUNE 24, 2004: Iceberg harvesting freezing out tourism: mayor

Last year, Bonavista Mayor Betty Fitzgerald complained that Canadian Iceberg Vodka Corp. – an affiliate of Iceberg Water Corp. – was hurting business for tourism operators in her region.

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