Aero Point sits on the eastern shore of Seal Cove, a small embayment in Prince Rupert Harbour on the north coast of Kaien Island, at the entrance to Fern Passage, about 90 miles (145 km) southeast of Ketchikan, Alaska, and 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of downtown Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The point is home to the Canadian Coast Guard‘s North Coast Marine Communications and Traffic Services Centre, which tracks shipping movements along the British Columbia coast. Seal Cove is classified as an aerodrome and an airport of entry, staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency. Aero Point also serves as the southern terminal for the Spirit of Lax Kw’alaams (registered as MV Nicola), an N-class ferry that runs between Prince Rupert and Port Simpson, formally known as Lax Kw’alaams, a First Nation community on British Columbia’s North Coast.

Seal Cove’s industrial history dates to 1910, when the Atlin Construction Company began building a fish-curing and refrigeration plant for the Canadian Fish and Cold Storage Company; the plant froze its first halibut in April 1912. The Prince Rupert Lumber Company mill followed in 1917, and R.G. Lowry reputedly built a second fish-packing plant later that year. By 1923 Seal Cove had several boatyards, marine ways and a hotel. In 1924 it became a stop on the first round-the-world flight. A new airbase, completed in 1940, added a hangar, hospital, radio station, fuel station and maintenance garage. The cold-storage plant was reopened as a clam cannery in 1926, and operated as a two-line salmon cannery from 1943 to 1953. The Canadian Fishing Company bought the property from Canadian National Railway in 1991 to build a small fresh-fish plant.

A century of industrial and other human activity severely degraded Seal Cove’s salt marsh, depleting the aquatic vegetation that once thrived there. To restore the ecosystem, the Prince Rupert Port Authority, in partnership with the City of Prince Rupert, regraded the intertidal areas and transplanted eelgrass and other underwater plants to create new fish habitat. A creek once buried in a culvert was exposed, and shoreline vegetation was added to give birds and other wildlife places to forage, breed and nest. The $4 million project, completed in 2022, also added a lighted pathway and pedestrian bridge. The revitalized Seal Cove Salt Marsh is now open to the public. Read more here and here. Explore more of Aero Point and Seal Cove here: