East End tour boat operators are facing a crisis over uncertainties surrounding Longbird Bridge. The bridge, which connects St. George's to the rest of the Island is currently closed and there was no indication yesterday as to when, or if, it would open to marine traffic. Several workers have been seen at the bridge and claims have surfaced that it will be closed for the summer, with barges placed underneath it while extensive repairs are carried out. Tour operators in the area said they face a summer of inconvenience and lost revenue if the bridge cannot open as they will not be able to get from the south side of the Island and Castle Harbour to the north side without a lengthy trip around St. David's. Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott did not return messages left at the Ministry yesterday. At least 13 operators and organisations are affected by the bridge closure. Michael Burke of Blue Water Divers said: "All of the operators will have to amend their schedules and the cost of lost business could run into the millions.'' He added that there was no consultation from Government and that ultimately, the visitor would suffer.

A Scuba Look spokesman said the bridge closure would cause major inconveniences as boats would have to take alternate routes to their dive sites and would not be able to get to some at all. "This will reduce our dive sites by a quarter and increases the length of the trip by at least an hour, so two trips per day is an extra two hours,'' he said. The bridge was out of commission all winter, according to tour operators, and last season it was broken down more often than not. Mike Stevens of Blue Hole Water Sports said his business relied on visitors being able to rent his small boats and go under the bridge. If barges were placed under the bridge while the repairs were carried out, all boats would be prevented from accessing Castle Harbour.

Mr. Stevens said he could not understand why the bridge was not operational even though people were working on it endlessly. He said: "I might as well shut my business down as it is not worth my while to operate as a large portion of my business requires that boats are able to go under the bridge.'' Concerns over bridge Nick Duffy of Adventure Enterprises noted that all of the operators had to give the cruise ships a schedule of their tours this year at the end of last year.

This was done in the expectation that the bridge would be working, he noted, and the tours could now be invalid.

He said operators were told to liaise with Works and Engineering management each morning to find out if there would be access under the bridge.

Mr. Duffy noted that the closure of Longbird Bridge would directly contradict Tourism Minister David Allen's efforts to revitalise the tourist industry.

"The closure of the bridge means that some of the most beautiful parts of the Island will be inaccessible, not only to tour boat operators, but locals also,'' said Mr. Duffy.

Mr. Duffy also raised safety concerns for inexperienced mariners who tried to access the Castle Islands' area from the north side of the Island by going around St. David's Head which was very dangerous.

In Government's recent 500 day report, the Ministry of Works and Engineering reported that an emergency winch closing system was installed on the bridge.

The report added that the bridge's deck plating was renewed and that "design and contract documents were completed for a six-year repair programme''.