Group takes to the skies to tackle derelict boats
Several Cowichan Bay businesses came together to remove derelict boats that posed a risk to the environment and public safety.
“There has been a lot of talk about the problem of derelict boats, but no one seemed ready to take action,” Brian Thacker, owner of Pacific Industrial & Marine, said in a statement. “That’s why a number of us got together and took matters into our own hands.”
Western Forest Products, Western Stevedoring and Pacific Industrial & Marine are sharing the cost — expected to be between $40,000 and $50,000 — of removing six derelict boats from Cowichan Bay.
A helicopter lifted two wrecks from the water on Wednesday. Thacker said the water was too shallow to tow the vessels without damaging the estuary.
Four boats were towed to the Western Stevedoring terminal dock and lifted out out the water with a crane in preparation for dismantling.
“Leaving the boats where they were posed a risk of fuel leaks and safe navigation, as storms and high tides can cause the boats to drift,” Thacker said.
In late May, the federal government promised $6.85 million in funding over the next five years to study and assist in removing vessels under its Abandoned Boats Program.
First-year applications for assessment and funding are due Oct. 31. A total of $300,000 is available this year for organizations applying for authorization to take control of such vessels, which is not a transfer of ownership. The maximum grant is $50,000 per vessel, up to 75 per cent of the cost.
Citizen groups have been trying to orchestrate the removal of derelicts boats on the Oak Bay side of Cadboro Bay. Volunteers cleared more than four tonnes of debris from the area in May, but need more money to deal with the remaining vessels.
As federal funding is not yet available, they might end up trying crowdfunding to keep the issue from re-escalating, said chairman Eric Dahli of the Cadboro Bay Residents Association in an email to supporters on June 12.
“We agree it is necessary to move quickly as the winter storms will once again fill these derelicts with sand and debris making it impossible to move them without another massive cleanup,” Dahli said.
The federal NDP say the Liberals’ program lacks measures to improve vessel registration, establish a vessel turn-in program or support local marine salvage businesses.
“The Liberals unveiled a rudderless plan that simply cannot address the thousands of vessels abandoned on our coasts,” said Sheila Malcolmson, NDP MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith. “The cost of removing just one vessel in Ladysmith was more than the annual budget for vessel removal.”
Malcolmson tabled Bill C-352 in April, outlining what the NDP calls “a comprehensive coast-wide strategy to clean up abandoned vessels, which pose significant economic and environmental risks to coastal communities.”