Crackdown coming for party boats

PortsToronto harbour master vows to tackle noise, speeding complaints

Boats blasting music in Toronto’s harbour will be asked to turn it down this summer.

Waterfront residents began complaining last year about party boats docking near condo buildings, music blaring from speakers, late into the evening.

“It used to be they played the music indoors only. Now they have speakers on the decks,” says York Quay Neighourhood Association president Angelo Bertolas. “And noise carries on the water.”

Toronto Harbour master Mike Riehl told residents at an online public meeting on Tuesday that he has a plan to tackle the noise and to tackle speeding, which residents have also identified as a troubling issue.

“We’re going to go out to an area of the harbour that we know we have some issues with, and we’re going to do a noise-and-speeding blitz,” Riehl told residents at the meeting.

The emphasis will be on educating and informing boaters who might be new to the harbour and aren’t aware of the regulations, he added.

He said the issues will also be raised at the Toronto Marine Emergency Response Council’s annual boat-safety training session for crew members and officers, scheduled for May 13 at the city’s cruise ship terminal.

“This year we’re going to have a new module — which I am going to run personally — and that is to talk to the officers and the captains of each boat, and explain to them, once again, about noise, speed and regulations on their tour routes,” said Riehl, who is also director of harbour operations.

PortsToronto is responsible for the safety of marine navigation in the harbour. Enforcement is conducted by the TPS Marine Unit, which is also responsible for water searchand-rescue efforts across the city.

TPS spokesperson Stacy Kellough told residents the unit tries to deploy three boats in the harbour during the summer, but often can only manage two. Staffing at the marine unit has remained the same for 15 years, while traffic in the harbour has increased significantly, she said.

The unit handles 3,000 calls per year, most during summer months, and covers about 1,200 square kilometres of water, from Port Credit to Scarborough.

Bertolas said loud party boats have re-emerged as a problem over the past two years. He said the community was successful in the past in working with a group of tour operators to keep the noise down and speeds at a safe level, but the agreement appears to have lapsed following a change in tour-boat ownership.

Residents of the condominiums at Pier 27 have also been agitating for enforcement of noise and speeding regulations. As a result, harbour tour vessels docked at a slip at the foot of Parliament Street were relocated, Riehl said.

He urged residents to reach out to PortsToronto with noise complaints related to boats.

“When someone calls my office and they complain about a boat, I will personally call the operator of the vessel,” said Riehl. “I take this pretty seriously.”

‘‘ It used to be they played the music indoors only. Now they have speakers on the decks. And noise carries on the water.

ANGELO BERTOLAS YORK QUAY NEIGHOURHOOD ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT