CRD urged to look into mapping sunken boats in coastal areas

Environmental committee calls for charting from Sooke Harbour to Salt Spring’s Fulford Harbour

The Capital Regional District should investigate the feasibility and costs of mapping sunken boats in select coastal areas, says its environmental committee.

The committee is recommending staff look into the idea of mapping sunken vessels in areas including Sooke Basin, Esquimalt Harbour, Victoria Harbour, the Gorge Waterway, Oak Bay, Cadboro Bay, Brentwood Bay and Salt Spring’s Fulford Harbour and Burgoyne Bay.

“This isn’t proposing that we would do anything with the data, but we at least get the data of what’s going on underneath the water line,” Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt, who chairs the committee, told fellow directors.

The information is particularly important for sunken vessels, Isitt said.

“There could be fossil fuels on these vessels in terms of oils and other types of fuels. There’s the ongoing contamination of vessels that are deteriorating over time.”

Some directors cautioned against stepping into an area of federal responsibility, however.

Juan de Fuca Electoral Area director Mike Hicks said he did not support spending “money, time and resources” to identify sunken vessels until boats that are awash have been dealt with. “In the Sooke Basin, we haven’t dealt with the boats that are awash, let alone sunk,” Hicks said.

Langford Coun. Lanny Seaton said derelict boats leaking oil are clearly the responsibility of Transport Canada or the coast guard to clean up. “It’s their responsibility to make sure these harbours are clean. If we take it over, then we’re dumping all the costs onto the regional taxpayers when it should be a federal responsibility,” Seaton said.

But Isitt said the goal is simply to gather information. “I think responsibility for removal of anything we find, if this mapping does occur, is the responsibility of the federal government and so primarily the CRD’s role would be advocacy to deal with whatever exists in these harbours,” he said.

Isitt said municipal governments have local knowledge that can help provide guidance to the federal government about where cleanups should occur.

Larisa Hutcheson, general manager of parks and environmental services, said much of the data might already be available, but in the hands of different parties.

“We do know that hydrographic services that do the marine charting do some underwater sonar work,” Hutcheson said. “They come across sunken vessels and report that data to the RCMP, Transport Canada, Receiver of Wrecks and others.”