Senator Bill Rompkey says he fully intends to visit lighthouses and their keepers in B.C., even if the Senate committee he heads doesn't receive funding for members to travel here.

Rompkey told the Nanaimo Daily News this week that he "wouldn't have anything to do" with a final report on the services the nation's lighthouse keepers provide without face-to-face meetings with B.C.'s keepers to give them the opportunity to discuss their concerns and hear delegations on their own turf.

Committee members were to visit B.C. this fall after heading to Nova Scotia last spring before submitting a final report to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, expected by Christmas, but tight purse strings in Ottawa has led to speculation that the excursion to B.C. may have to be axed.

Jim Abram, the spokesman for B.C.'s lighthouse keepers on the destaffing issue, couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

In an interview earlier this week, Abram said that he has been busy during the summer talking to the major shipping companies along B.C.'s coasts and has been successful in gathering numerous letters of support for keeping staffed lighthouses.

"The Senate doesn't sit again until Sept. 20 and I don't expect we'll know if we're going to receive any of the requested funding to travel to B.C. and Newfoundland to talk to lighthouse keepers before that," Rompkey said Tuesday.

"However, I think we have to go to these places because I believe the only way to do this review properly is to sit and talk to them in person like we did already in Nova Scotia. We really can't be expected to do this by other means, including video-conferencing."

The federal government announced in September that it intended to destaff Nanaimo's Entrance Island and three other B.C. lighthouses, arguing that they are already fully automated, but the growing controversy over the issue led to an announcement in October to postpone the destaffing until a review of services provided by lighthouse staff on both coasts can be completed.

It's the fourth time in two decades that Ottawa has attempted to destaff almost all of the country's lighthouses.

Rompkey, a Liberal Senator from Newfoundland and Labrador, said it's ironic that Stephen Harper's Conservative government called for the Senate committee to conduct the review and it's the Conservatives who are hesitant to provide the funds for the committee to "do its job properly."

"When we finish this review depends on how soon we get the funding that's required for us to travel to the places we need to visit," Rompkey said.

"However, I want B.C.'s lighthouse keepers to know that the ball game isn't over yet and I intend to come to B.C. in the coming months, even if I have to travel there myself."