PRINCE RUPERT -- The company building an offshore wind farm off the coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands has installed a marine meteorological station, but not everyone is happy the project is proceeding.

Naikun Wind Energy Group, a Vancouver-based energy company, is developing a wind project off the coast of British Columbia in an area known as the Haida energy field.

The first phase of the project involves the recently installed marine meteorological station, which is equipped with several high-tech instruments that will measure and collect data pertaining to atmospheric conditions, wave and current climate, wind speed and direction and air and sea temperatures.

The measurement data will also play an important role in pre-engineering the project and identifying the optimal placement of the wind turbines.

This is the first offshore measurement station of its kind on the west coast of North America and is an area used by Dungeness crab fishermen.

The location of the wind farm in this area has been a point of contention for many crab fishermen who have voiced their concerns over the past year, such as Area A crab fisherman Itch Verne.

"The proposed first phase of the Naikun Wind Farm project will cover approximately 30 per cent of traditional crab fishing grounds in Hecate Straight," said Mr. Verne in a recent letter to Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn.

"Fishers will not be able to set gear near the area during or after construction. Phase 1 will severely reduce the fishing grounds, forcing fishers to be more concentrated in the remaining available area, resulting in less production per vessel, more trap loss and navigational hazards."

Mr. Verne estimates that if the remaining four phases of the proposed project were to be completed, the entire fishery would almost assuredly come to an end.

Mr. Verne and others in Area A feel that immediate action on behalf of the Fisheries Department is necessary to preserve their fishery.