The £1.9 million regeneration of a Westcountry harbour to help bolster its position as a regional fishing centre has been completed.

Environmental planning, engineering and management consultancy Hyder Consulting has successfully completed the regeneration project in Newlyn harbour, Cornwall as part of a regeneration scheme to secure the town's position as a centre for fishing in the South West.

The development has taken seven months to complete, with 80 pontoon berths being developed to assist the small boat fishing fleet of vessels less than 15m in length. These berths have added to the existing berthing facilities in the harbour and have created a safer and more efficient working environment of the fleet.

Jon Pratten, the project manager at Hyder Consulting, said the pontoon scheme would help safeguard both jobs and lives.

"The small fishing boats no longer have to compete for space with the larger boats, which removes the risk of crushing, and the men can now simply walk off their boats on to the pontoons instead of clambering over several boats and up ladders," he said.

"The project is expected to enable the fishing fleet to land and get its catch to market faster and more efficiently than has been possible to date and also makes it easier to supply the vessels, increasing the length of time that crews can stay at sea."

Newlyn harbour is the home of the largest annual fish catch in England and Wales, and the pontoon moorings have been developed within the inner harbour at Newlyn, which dates back to medieval times.

Prior to the construction of the pontoons fishing boats using Newlyn had to berth side by side, creating a line of boats that stretched out into the harbour, meaning fishing boat crews had to traverse a number of boats to make it to dry land. The arrangement was inconvenient, made loading and unloading vessels difficult and posed health and safety risks for the fishermen, with the result that some had started to leave Newlyn for new home ports.

In addition construction of the pontoons, the project has seen part of the harbour dredged to improve access. Historical use of the harbour had contaminated the seabed with Tributyl-tin, which meant that the dredged material could not be dumped at sea.

In conjunction with contractor May Gurney, a system of treating the sediments was agreed with the Environment Agency, which allowed the material to be used at Sandy Cove to raise flood levels.

The chemical systems used during the remediation won a Remediation Innovation Award at a ceremony organised by Brownfield Briefing in London.

The scheme is tied in with a £10 million plan to redevelop Penzance harbour, the seafront linking the two harbours and the maritime links with the Isles of Scilly. It is hoped the total redevelopment will help regenerate the area, not only for the fishing industry but also for tourism.

Article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS