Efforts to address derelict boats on the Peninsula continue to be met with bureaucratic roadblocks, leaving local advocates frustrated over the lack of action.
"Extraordinarily complex" is how Bob Peart, who chairs Friends of Shoal Harbour in North Saanich, describes dealing with derelict boats in the area. "And it shouldn't be."
Brian Taylor, club manager at Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club, echoed Peart's frustrations. A derelict vessel has been in the harbour since November but reaching out to Transport Canada and the Coast Guard has not borne success – a familiar problem, he said.
"There's been a derelict boat society committee that has gone to every level of government to try to get someone to deal with them, and it's been very frustrating for everybody involved because no one will take responsibility," Taylor said.
"I can't even tell you the number of times that boats have been put onto our dock and just left," he said.
"Boats have broken loose of their moorings and they're floating around out there ready to hit something," he said.
From Peart's viewpoint, the problem grew in 2004 when derelict boat responsibility was transferred from the Coast Guard to Transport Canada. Transport Canada told the News Review it never received additional funding or capacity.
While the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act came into law in 2019, at least four fines have been given out since, and Peart said it's not enough.
Instead, he described "finger-pointing" between federal, provincial and municipal governments plus the Coast Guard, Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans.
North Saanich bylaw officers also can't enforce anything 300 metres from shore because they don't have the necessary equipment, or a boat to go out there, a bylaw officer told the News Review.
Part of the problem is the lack of a system for keeping track of boating registrations. Peart said Transport Canada has said "for years" that they will try to put a system in place so that ownership of vessels can be better tracked.
The News Review reached out to Transport Canada to ask if there are plans to put a better tracking system in place and to give comment on Peart's comments, but Transport Canada did not directly answer the question.
"Transport Canada assesses hundreds of vessels to ensure compliance with this Act, and takes appropriate action as a result of these assessments," it said.
Potential solutions
Lisa Marie Barron, MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith and member of the Fisheries and Oceans Committee, said this is a problem across B.C. communities and it's why she is pushing for change at the federal level.
Her Bill C-344, an act to amend the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act, is a private member's "ready-packaged" bill for the "government to be able to pass at any time."
She described "serious gaps in the legislation" to have systems in place to make it easier for people to dispose of their vessels properly than to abandon them. "My bill is basically trying to address those gaps," she said.
One of those gaps is having an environmentally friendly disposal centre for people to bring their vessels.
Barron sees a need to make it "really clear" to vessel owners how to dispose of their vessels and a better registration system to keep track of owners. Addressing these issues should be a "priority" for the federal government she said.
"Right now, we're in a climate crisis. There are so many implications of those vessels being left to sink. At a time when we need to be doing everything we can to protect our marine ecosystems and our oceans ... we're creating more pollution that is completely avoidable along our sensitive marine waterways."
It also impacts tourism, and poses safety hazards, she said.
"I will give them credit for the 2019 act that got put into place. But an act is only as strong as the resources that you allocate," she said.
After years of calling for action himself, Peart said that "the light bulb is slowly going on."
"To give Transport Canada credit, two boats were removed from Seaham Harbour in North Saanich in November," he said.
But, his frustrations linger.
"There are examples where change is being made. But it shouldn't be so difficult for the public to be able to have some influence."
