Salvagers will have to wait at least a few more days before they are able to start removing the wreck of the MV Miner from Cape Breton’s Scatarie Island.

The New York-based salvage company hired to dismantle the rusting wreck had hoped to start today, but they remain confined to shore.

They won’t be able to set sail until they get further permission from the federal government.

“We can’t go to Scatarie yet, because our boats don’t have the permission from Transport Canada to carry us,” says Bennington Group COO Abe Shah. “So now, I’m just here doing mostly logistical work, what barges, equipment we need.”

Regulatory red tape has been a common complaint from many people associated with the project. Herman Wadden has been sailing people to Scatarie Island for 50 years but he says Transport Canada requirements continue to shut area fisherman like him out of project work.

“They’re telling me it costs up to $12,000 to have my boat get a stability test or whatever it is and I don’t know if you’d make that much back. Probably not,” says Wadden.

Just one local boat – owned by a man from North Sydney – has been hired for the project and is set to tug barges.

Both fisherman and the salvage group say there seems to be different sets of rules for boats taking people to the island, versus those transporting supplies.

“We don’t take our boats out unless they’re safe to go in,” says Wadden. “I’m not going to risk my life or anyone else’s to go six miles to Scatarie. I’ve fished off there on 90 to100 mile crab fishing trips and they’re going to restrict me from six miles? It doesn’t add up to me, but rules are rules.”

Amongst all the confusion, a community group pushing for the Miner’s removal remains optimistic they’re close to their end goal.

“At the end of the day, they know, we know, everyone in our community agrees, that we simply need to have that vessel removed from the shores of Scatarie,” says Amanda McDougall of the Main-a-Dieu Community Development Association.

The salvage company hopes to begin ferrying its crew to the shipwreck by next Monday.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald