Shortly after the death of a 25-year-old man who was swept into the ocean in Pegis Cove in 2015, an eclectic group came together to discuss how safety could be improved at a landmark southwest of Halifax.
One idea was to close the iconic place, which attracts more than 700,000 people a year and has many photographed lighthouses on large granite, one with tempting but slippery “black rocks” that descend to the water’s edge.
The idea was quickly rejected.
“People will still dare to find a way to reach the coast, to the edge of the ocean, to the black rocks beyond the lighthouse, to experience this experience,” said Mark Fury, a retired Liberal cabinet minister who was tourism minister at the time. and led safety discussions.
“This has always been a challenge and will remain a challenge for the foreseeable future.”
There are over 40 safety signs in the Peggys Cove community. (Elizabeth Macmillan / CBC)
Although no official statistics are kept, Pegis Cove has been one of the places in Nova Scotia to drown for decades. In the last 20 years alone, four deaths have been reported in Pegis Cove. The last one was in April.
Every time life is lost, safety discussions intensify, with people wondering why there can be no lifebuoys at hand, fences to protect people from rocks near water, or even lifeguards at the scene.
“You really can’t save there. That’s the problem,” said Paul D’Eon, director of special projects at the Lifesaving Society of Nova Scotia, who has been involved in various discussions involving safety in the area.
He explained that in the 1990s, the public conducted research in which highly skilled rescuers threw buoys with rings into the water on a medium-wave day, only to find that they were quickly taken away from their target.
“I asked them, ‘Would you go in the water?'” Rescuers said, “No. “There’s no way we can even get in there,” D’Eon said. Once a person is in the water, he said, the waves can hit him in the rocks, leaving him injured and unable to swim.
The province launched Pegis Cove’s patrol program in 1995. The summer employment program hired CPR and first aid students to warn people not to get too close to the rocks. The program was terminated in 2000 (CBC)
Peggys Cove’s patrol program, launched in 1995, made rock patrols play during peak season if visitors approached the water. The program was discontinued in 2000.
The problem, D’Eon said, was that some people assumed the patrols were there to save lives, when in fact their role was only to discourage people from going into dangerous areas.
When Fury led a security initiative for various agencies in 2015 after the death of Jamie Quattroki of Ontario, he first discussed fencing with the Peggy Cove Commission, the Nova Scotia Rescue Society, the Red Cross, and the families of those killed on the spot. responsive, locals and fishermen with boats, who are usually first on the scene.
The local community was “offended” by the idea of a fence, he said, as were other New Scots.
“The discussion and feedback I’ve heard in the past has been the optics of a fence on such a pristine piece of land, an iconic piece of land with a lighthouse and all these elements of this space,” he said.
Huge waves rise above the rocks of the iconic lighthouse. (Tim L’Esperance)
In addition to the visual component, Fury said the challenge would be to find two endpoints.
“So where does the fence end? That’s the first question when you consider the rock-based landscape, granite,” Fury said. The other question was, how high would the fence be?
Even if there was a fence, how would it work?
Alison Mark, a Halifax-based mechanical engineer who specializes in materials science, said a Peggys Cove fence would be possible, but it would be a challenging and expensive endeavor that requires a careful design process.
“I don’t think it would be as simple as just digging a hole and laying a concrete foundation in most cases,” Mark said.
She said the high-corrosion environment – with salt water, wind and waves – would probably need specialized material, which is probably more expensive than a typical fence. Rocks must also be prepared as a suitable base, which will require drilling and possible blasting.
The property line in and around Peggys Cove is blurred. Because the federal government owns the actual lighthouse, the provincial government in charge of the surrounding area, and the residents of private lands in the community, enforcing security becomes a challenge.
Sunset in Pegis Bay. (Submitted by Christian Herridge)
Following Quattroki’s death in 2015, the province put up additional signs warning of “sudden high waves”, the risk of drowning and urging people to stay away from black rocks.
He launched the Safe On Shore campaign in 2016, promoting coastal safety throughout Nova Scotia, particularly in Peggys Cove. The campaign includes print media, a website and social media messages.
In addition to the more than 40 safety signs at Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia adds three more. The province said new signs are currently being produced warning of the danger of black rocks and waves, which will be installed as soon as possible.
Last night, an observation deck was installed that glows at night. It offers scenic views of the lighthouse from a safe distance and is part of the Crown Corporation Develop Nova Scotia’s master plan to make Peggys Cove safer. The project cost the provincial and federal governments $ 3.1 million.
But in early April, two brothers slipped on rocks and fell into the water, with one, Harshil Barot, losing his life. His brother Zarin Barot said the two had not seen the signs in the dark.
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John Campbell, owner of Sou’Wester Restaurant and a gift shop in Pegis Cove, has seen his fair share of accidents while living in the community since 1967.
“There are many times when someone slips on the rocks, we are the first phone call,” Campbell said.
In the summer, he said there are times when people go for a swim at low tide and come out unscathed, but incidents in which visitors slip on a rock and fall into the water occur more than 10 times a year.
He said accidents often happen when a person is hit by a fraudulent wave two to three times higher than average.
“Sometimes you don’t just have to be on black rocks,” Campbell said. “But how do you control this moving line? Because it’s moving. Like a hurricane, you don’t have to be on the rocks at all.”
John Campbell owns the Sou’wester gift shop and restaurant in Pegis Cove. (CBC)
He said many times when we discuss safety at Peggys Cove, it comes down to signs. There will be one-time plaques, but a few years later some have disappeared, either hit by wool or stolen.
For him, whenever there is death, there is a feeling of helplessness.
Campbell uses his boat to save Zarin from the water. He later met the Barot family, who traveled from India to Nova Scotia after Harshill’s death.
“It was just such sadness and I hate, I hate, I hate reading people with bad comments. From the way I look at it, at least in my life I know I’ve used bad judgment before. “I’m sure most people used bad judgment and we don’t expect to lose our lives,” Campbell said.
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