SHEET HARBOUR, N.S. -- Residents of the community of Sheet Harbour met Monday night to discuss a possible whale sanctuary off its coast.
While the project has support, it also has opposition. Monday's meeting got heated and it's not clear if any headway was made.
Officials for the sanctuary project said they don't plan on making a decision right away, but they hope to soon.
The next step, if they move forward with the Mushaboom site, would be to apply to the province, and then start building. If that happens, there could be belugas in the water off the Eastern Shore by 2021.
A beluga sanctuary in Sheet Harbour would provide a new home to whales from marine theme parks.
Those who support the project say there are many benefits, like jobs.
"People who handle boats, people who handle nets and clean nets," said Charles Vinick, the executive director of the whale sanctuary project. "Hopefully, fishermen in their off-seasons are able to be part-time temporary employees of the sanctuary to help us with security, help us with marine ops."
Stephen Mildenberger thinks the project will have a "negligible impact on the fishing industry."
"Certainly, it would not pollute the waters, it would not scare away the lobsters like we're hearing, it would not in that way affect fishing at all," Mildenberger said.
The proposed site is just south of Mushaboom, between Malagash Island and the Gibbs Islands -- what locals call "The Gates."
"It is well protected from extreme weather," Vinick said. "It's deep, and it has current. It has good flow."
But that's why boaters and fishermen also like "The Gates."
They use it as a travel route and don't want the whales to move in.
"If they want to put the whales somewhere around the Sheet Harbour area, no problem," said resident Gary Verge. "But get it in a place where it's not going to have such a large impact on our passageway."
The committee says they looked at over 120 possible sites and found The Gates had some of the best conditions.
Now, they're hoping they can present some compromises that will bring everybody onboard.
"We've heard them," said Lori Marino, the president of the whale sanctuary project. "We're responding to the best of our ability, we're not dismissing them, and we hope that they'll join the rest of the community, which is the overwhelming majority in wanting to have something that would be unique in all the world right here."
But whether enough people will agree is up for debate.
"They have support, I'll say that, but not the majority," said Verge.
The sanctuary would cost an estimated $20 million, which the committee says it will fundraise.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Emily Baron Cadloff.
