The District of Sechelt is moving to take possession of five abandoned vessels in Porpoise Bay after none of the owners came forward by the Jan. 21 deadline set in a series of legal notices published in December.
Publishing the notices is one of the steps required under the federal government’s Abandoned Boats Program, which has funded the district to the tune of $70,000 to assess more than a dozen boats in Porpoise Bay.
Now that no owners have “reclaimed” and taken responsibility for those abandoned vessels, the district can apply to Transport Canada to take legal possession of the boats. Then it will have to apply for an additional federal grant to cover their disposal.
The boats named in the legal notices did not include the 30-metre (100-foot) cruiser Gulfstream II, which sank on Sept. 7, 2018 and remains on the bottom. The Gulfstream has often been cited as the most problematic of the abandoned and derelict vessels in Porpoise Bay.
The Pender Harbour Advisory Council also received $25,000 for assessments under the Abandoned Boats Program. The group has assessed and is now waiting for quotes on the cost of disposal of the Lulu Island and the Kwatna in Garden Bay, boats the group has called “the two most objectionable and long-standing examples of derelict boats.”
The Advisory Council is working on assessments of three other vessels.
The federal government’s third call for applications for money for assessment and removals under the Abandoned Boats Program ends March 31.
