A number of politicians from the Cowichan Valley are pleased that the issue of derelict ships and boats in Cowichan Bay, and across Canada, is finally being taken seriously by the federal government.
Alistair MacGregor, NDP MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, and Lori Iannidinardo, the director for Cowichan Bay for the Cowichan Valley Regional District, said they hope to finally see legislation passed soon to deal with the ongoing issue after Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced on May 23 that Ottawa is set to establish a new program that will support the removal of abandoned boats posing a hazard in Canadian waters.
MacGregor said the Liberal government had promised last year that legislation on derelict vessels would soon be implemented under its new Ocean Protection Plan, and he’s interested in seeing what the final details will be.
“A Liberal MP also introduced a motion last year for government to act on derelict vessels within six months and, while they missed the deadline, it’s better late than never,” he said.
“This issue has been begging for action and leadership for some time, and has caused a lot of frustration in many coastal communities across Canada.”
About 600 boats have been ditched and abandoned on Canada’s coasts, including dozens over the years in Cowichan Bay and Ladysmith harbour.
Garneau said the federal government will work with the provinces on the issue and some funding will be available to address the “backlog” of abandoned vessels.
He said Ottawa’s $1.5-billion Oceans Protection Plan will ensure liability will remain with the owner of a boat from the moment they purchase it until it’s disposed of properly.
“It’s one thing for something to sink in an act-of-God storm,” Garneau said.
“It’s another thing to deliberately abandon your vessel and to walk away from it and leave the mess for somebody else to clean up. That’s not going to be tolerated.”
Iannidinardo has also worked on the issue of derelict boats for some time and said she’s glad it’s finally being taken seriously by Ottawa.
She said Pacific Industrial &Marine and Western Stevedoring, which have operations in Cowichan Bay, stopped waiting for Ottawa to act years ago and have already been removing sunken and half sunken derelict vessels from the bay.
She said the companies have removed as many as 25 derelict vessels over the last five years, and are currently working on removing five more.
“They’ve been waiting for so long and with nothing happening to deal with the issue, they decided to take on the job themselves,” Iannidinardo said.
“The boat owners need to be held accountable. I hope Ottawa follows the example of the State of Washington, which has an excellent model for dealing with these vessels.”
The legislation in place in Washington allows the state to put liens on boaters’ licences and registrations, among other strategies, whose boats have had to be dealt with to cover the costs.