B.C.'s lighthouse keepers are confident they will win their latest battle to keep staffed lighthouses on the province's coast, despite the unexpected loss of their chief spokesman to cancer earlier this month.

Jim Abram, a longtime keeper of the lighthouse at Cape Mudge near Campbell River and a past-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada's Lightkeepers Local 20232, has been given unanimous approval by the union's executive board to carry on the work of Steve Bergh, who died in hospital in Victoria on Aug. 16 at the age of 60.

During the summer he has been talking to the major shipping companies along B.C.'s coasts, who are required to pay for lighthouse and other marine services, and has been successful in gathering numerous letters of support for keeping staffed lighthouses.

Abram also said he went to a fundraiser in Surrey, hosted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and attended by a number of Senators who sit on the Senate committee that is reviewing services provided by lighthouse staff on both coasts. He found there was no appetite to destaff lighthouses, at least unofficially, among them. Bill Rompkey, chairman of the Senate committee, couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

The federal government announced in September that it intended to destaff Nanaimo's Entrance Island and three other B.C. lighthouses, including facilities on Trial Island near Victoria, Dryad Point near Bella Bella, and Cape Mudge on Quadra Island, arguing that they are already fully automated.

But the growing controversy over the issue led to an announcement in October by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea to postpone the destaffing until a review of services provided by lighthouse staff on both coasts can be completed by the Senate committee.

While committee members visited Canada's East Coast in the spring to hear delegations on the issue, a planned visit to the West Coast this fall may be called off due to budgetary constraints.

"We've been through three previous attempts to destaff the lighthouses and have won all of them and we will win this fourth attempt," Abram said Monday.

"When the committee sees these letters from the companies (including the Ship Owners Alliance of Canada and the Council of Marine Carriers) they will have to pay attention. I honestly believe that the Senate committee is trying to do a good job, but members are just hamstrung by a lack of money."