The derelict vessel issue has come to the forefront again this week with the discovery of a large abandoned sailboat in Granthams Landing that community members rallied together to deal with on Dec. 11.
Concerned residents took on the task after realizing there was no help being offered from governments locally, provincially or federally.
Local governments have in the past pointed the finger at the province and the province to the federal government, but so far, no government body has been willing to step up and take responsibility.
Transport Canada commissioned a study of the extent of abandoned and derelict vessels in Canada in November 2012, and at that time it found more than 400 derelicts of various sizes floating in or obstructing Canadian waterways.
The report noted at that time various federal, provincial or municipal government bodies and agencies were dealing with one aspect of the issue or another, but no single government or agency had the proper authority to deal with the entire issue, i.e., locating and removing the derelict vessels and then properly disposing of the wrecks.
Seems easy enough to designate a government or agency to be in charge and create legislation empowering them, but in this case the cost seems to be the biggest stumbling block.
The 2012 Transport Canada report estimated that the removal of an abandoned or derelict vessel could cost up to $3,000 for a small boat and up to “hundreds of thousands of dollars for a large vessel.”
We’ve been told in the past by the provincial government that a solution was on the way. In 2010 Minister of Forests and Range Pat Bell told Coast Reporter he was “very serious” about the issue and would soon draft legislation to address it. That never happened.
In 2013 Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson said he was “committed to bring the derelict vessel file back to a priority file” and work toward a solution. Here we are two years later and still no solution.
The federal government looked as if it might draft some legislation in May of this year when an NDP private member’s bill came forward, but despite endorsement from West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP John Weston, the bill was defeated in a 145-113 vote. That bill would have designated the Canadian Coast Guard as the receiver of wrecks and obligated the federal government to act when vessels are abandoned.
Finally, in October Weston pitched his own abandoned vessels bill that was adopted by the Conservative Party, which promised to act if elected.
We all know how that ended.
Now our new riding MP, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, is promising to “pick up where the issue left off,” and that’s a start, but what we really need is an end to this ongoing, serious issue.
