Steveston Harbour is home to more than 500 commercial fishing vessels and a modest number of pleasure craft. It is comprised of the Gulf of Georgia and Paramount sites which encompass over 17.5 hectares in total, making it the largest small craft commercial fishing harbour in Canada.
The Steveston Harbour Authority (SHA) was established in 1990 as a non-profit organization which leases Steveston Harbour and its facilities from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Small Craft Harbours Branch (DFO – SCHB) with the mandate to operate and maintain the facility as a commercial fishing harbour.
Steveston Harbour Authority has a Board of Directors comprised of nine representatives from the following organizations: Fishing Vessels Owners Association, Canadian Fishing Company, Steveston Homeport Gillnet Fishers, Area E Gillnetters, Steveston Homeport Independent Fishers, Deep Sea Trawlers Association, City of Richmond, Community Groups and the Musqueam First Nation. A current list of the SHA Board of Directors can be found here. The General Manager and the Operations, Maintenance, Finance and Administration staff carry out the day-to-day operations of the harbour.
The focus of Steveston Harbour Authority is to provide safety, service and security to commercial fishers and all harbour users. As part of that mandate, Steveston Harbour Authority staff has developed excellent working relationships with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Richmond RCMP, Richmond Fire-Rescue, the Canadian Coast Guard and other agencies, ensuring quick, coordinated responses to any emergency situation that may arise. Steveston Harbour Authority also offers 24 / 7 foot and vehicular patrols of both sites, helping to ensure a safe environment for all harbour users.
Since its inception in 1990, the SHA, in concert with DFO – SCHB, has undertaken numerous capital development projects to improve the quality of service offered to the commercial fishing fleet. These projects include:
- Ongoing maintenance dredging of existing moorage areas
- Construction and installation of new moorage floats
- Construction and installation of new drive on concrete loading float at the Paramount site
- Installation of new loading derricks
- Installation of a wifi system
- Installation of an IP based CCTV system
- Installation of electronic security gates at the Paramount and Gulf sites
- Construction and installation of a public boardwalk in Steveston
- Construction of a boat ramp
- Construction of new storage areas
- Paving of existing gear storage areas
The Steveston Harbour Authority Board of Directors and staff pride themselves in providing professional management services to the commercial fishing industry – an industry that is essential to the economic success of the City of Richmond, the Province of British Columbia, and Canada as a whole.
Steveston Harbour Authority is always striving to improve services however possible. If you have any suggestions on how to improve service at Steveston harbour, please feel free to email them to info@stevestonharbour.com and we will be happy to take them into consideration.