National compensation lawyers Slater and Gordon has launched legal action over asbestos at Eden's former fish cannery.
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The legal action has been taken on behalf of the family of the late Don 'Snow' Fletcher, who worked at the cannery for 46 years and was one of its longest serving employees.
Mr Fletcher started work at the cannery, then known as Green's, when he was 15.
He died of cancer in March, 2015, aged 78.
Slater and Gordon placed an advertisement in the Eden Magnet on August 13 last year asking people to contact them if they worked at the Heinz Watties Greenseas tuna cannery on Cattle Bay Road between 1951 and 1998, or if they knew anyone who did.
Former cannery workers have told Fairfax Regional Media that Mr Fletcher was not the only employee to die from cancer.
Slater and Gordon has not ruled out the possibility of wider legal action on behalf of other cannery workers who may have died.
The cannery closed on July 9, 1999 - 145 people, 12 per cent of the town's workforce, lost their jobs.
Exposure to asbestos can cause asbestosis and mesothelioma, serious lung diseases which can lead to death. There is no known cure.
The latency period from exposure to asbestos to diagnosis of the disease can vary from 15-50 years.
The Cattle Bay site is now the subject of plans by Eden Resort Hotel for a 154-berth marina development that was approved by the Joint Regional Planning Panel in December.
Bega Valley Shire Council awarded a tender, worth $72,341, to demolish the dilapidated buildings and clean up the site to John Michelin and Son, earlier this month.
After the closure of the cannery in 1999, contractors knocked down most of the buildings and disposed of the asbestos.
According to a council-commissioned asbestos audit and risk assessment report carried out carried by South Coast Asbestos Consulting, in October last year, the risk status of the remaining buildings is low.
The proposed marina development covers the foreshore land upon which the former Heinz Cannery was built, the old cannery wharf, as well as parts of the Cattle Bay and Twofold Bay marine environs.
Slater and Gordon, and the Fletcher family, declined to be interviewed.
Works begins on old cannery site
Demolition work will begin on Monday at the Eden cannery site.
The works will involve demolition of an existing shed, brick building and decommissioning of the fish kill tank.
Access to Cattle Bay will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, February 22-23, due to the removal of asbestos from the site.
Following removal of asbestos from the cannery site, pedestrian access to Cattle Bay will be open to the public.
The Cattle Bay car park will remain closed for the duration of the project, which is estimated to be eight weeks.
Parking will be made available on the council-owned land adjacent to the cannery site.
John Michelin & Son Pty Ltd is the local contractor that has been appointed the demolition work and will have staff available on site to assist the public in accessing Cattle Bay.
For more information please contact Jason Heffernan on 0434 350 816.
