Mi'kmaq First Nation, environmental group work on creating zero-emission lobster boat
An environmental charity and the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton are partnering to create electric lobster boats on the East Coast, saying it's the way of the future if Canada is to meet its zero-emission targets.
Oceans North announced Thursday it is working on the project with the Mi'kmaq community's fisheries and boatbuilding corporations, based in Sydney, N.S.
Hubert Nicholas, the director of fisheries at Membertou, said in an interview the new boats will likely be costlier than diesel-powered vessels at first, but he said it's expected there will be savings in maintenance and fuel costs.
"Right now, the cost is high ... but we anticipate that as battery-powered boats become more accepted and more are built, the price will drop dramatically," he said.
Nicholas estimated the cost of lobster boats is about $600,000 to $700,000, adding that an electrical boat would have higher, yet-to-be-determined costs for its engine and other components.
However, Nicholas said that the band's boat-building firm sees it as the way forward, and he said he believes the industry will soon follow the pattern of car and truck industries in a shift away from emission-belching diesel motors.
"We're seeing this as an opportunity to be ahead of the game. We want to be pioneers in this area," he said.
The federal government has set a goal that one in five automobiles sold in the country by 2026 will be zero-emissions and 60 per cent of them will be by 2030. By 2035 Canada intends to ban the sale of new internal-combustion engines in passenger vehicles.
Brent Dancey, director of marine climate action at Oceans North, said the fishing sector also needs alternatives to fossil fuels, as society shifts toward zero-emission targets. In 2020, the federal government announced that Canada has the goal of cutting net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Dancey said the inshore fleet is an obvious first area for electrification in the marine sector. The project estimated that 70 per cent of the inshore lobster fleet travels within 20 kilometres from shore and can be powered by battery electric systems. As well, he said his team estimates the decarbonization of the inshore lobster fleet could displace 82 million kilograms of carbon dioxide -- the equivalent of 20,000 cars.
Nicholas said he's already seeing the potential for increased safety because fuel cells and electric engines are established technologies with fewer breakdowns than aging diesel engines, which are based on "100-year-old technologies."
Rimot Inc. -- a Halifax-based technology firm specializing in marine electrification -- provided assistance to Membertou in the early stage of the project, studying how a conventional lobster boat uses energy in the course of a typical fishing trip. This data has been gathered as a baseline that naval architects and other experts can use in the next stage of the project, as hull designs are chosen, fuel cells are sourced, and electrical engine sizes are specified.
The first stage of the project has received $750,000 in funding, with $500,000 contributed by Google.org, the search engine's philanthropic division, and about $250,000 from RBC.
Dancey said that after the feasibility study is complete, the project team will seek further funding to finish the design and construct the first boat at Membertou's boatyard. He suggested he would look to governments for part of that funding.
"There are electric ferries working around the world. So, we want to take this technology that's working in a bunch of vehicles and put it into a lobster vessel," he said during an interview.
Nicholas estimated it will take two to three years to build the first electric vessel.
Andrew Boswell, the chief executive of Rimot Inc., said in an interview Thursday that one of the related areas of study involves how to set up in harbours charging systems to power boats and allow vessels to transfer unused energy back into the grid.
"You'll start to see chargers on wharfs across the province. ... And if we go at it in an unintelligent way, we'll load up the grid at times of greatest need," he said.
"But if we apply intelligence to this, we'll help the grid in its efforts to achieve net zero by tapping into the storage of energy on the vessels at key times."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Ontario reveals highest public sector salaries in sunshine list
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.