Judge rules fuel spill fine should go to First Nation
A B.C. judge has ruled that close to $3 million in fines imposed on the operator of a tug that hit a reef and sank in the Inside Passage in 2016 be handed to the Heiltsuk Nation.
In a reasons for judgment released last week by provincial court judge Brent Hoy, he said the combined fines of $2.7 million issued under the Fisheries Act, $200,000 under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and $5,000 under the Pilotage Act be put into an environmental damage fund administered to benefit the Heiltsuk Nation.
The Nathan E. Stewart, an American articulated tug-barge travelling the Inside Passage from Alaska to Vancouver, ran aground and sank on a reef next to Athlone Island close to Bella Bella in the early hours of Oct. 13, 2016.
Court heard that the seven-crew tug left the Port of Vancouver on Oct. 4 to deliver refined petroleum to the Alaskan port town of Ketchikan, often visited by cruise ships doing the Vancouver-to-Alaska Inside Passage run. Late in the evening of Oct. 12, the second mate relieved the ship master at the helm, made a course adjustment at 12:20 a.m. on Oct. 13 and then fell asleep at the wheel while alone on the upper bridge. At 1 a.m. another crew member could not contact the second mate and was climbing the internal stairs to the upper bridge when the tug collided with Edge Reef at the entrance to Seaforth Channel west of Bella Bella. The Canadian Coast Guard were notified at 1:20 a.m. and the crew tried to surround the vessel with a boom to contain the spill, but it broke apart. Once the crew realized the tug would likely sink they were able to transfer some of the diesel from the tug to the barge. The tug sank at 9:30 a.m. after breaking away from the empty barge and spilled 110,000 litres of diesel and 2,200 litres of lubricants into the water.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the second mate was alone on the bridge – which contravened Canadian maritime law – and was seriously fatigued due to the six-on, six-off roster they were working and the conditions on the bridge at the time of the accident (it was warm, dark, with quiet music playing, the seas were calm and the captain’s seat comfortable).
The tugboat owner and operator, Kirby Offshore Operating, admitted full responsibility for the spill and paid almost $6 million in compensation to the Canadian Coast Guard ($1.94 million), provincial government ($410,000) and the Heiltsuk Nation ($3.6 million).