Photo: John Buchannan
By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Oct 11, 2013
One early morning in 2008, a tugboat named La Lumiere sank at a dock in Britannia Beach, spilling close to 1,000 litres of diesel fuel into the waters of Britannia Beach.
Today, five years later, they are still fighting over who owned the vessel.
The administrator of the Ship-source Pollution Fund, Canada’s national fund for oil spills liability, has recommended recourse action against British Columbia.
The counsel believes the province to be the owner of the vessel, which was registered in the name of the Maritime Society of Vancouver before June, 2006.
The crown counsel says since the society dissolved, the de facto owner is the province.
The counsel for the ship fund demanded that the province pay the ship fund administrator $85,641, plus interest, in respect of the oil pollution remediation cost.
The province denies it owns the ship.
On May 3, 2011, the counsel commenced legal proceedings against the province.
The litigation continues.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Coast Guard has used a remotely operated vehicle to locate the La Lumiere to determine the cause of sinking and assess the condition of the hull.
The boat was found resting on a slope in depths ranging from 245 to 290 feet, and only ‘light intermittent oil sheen’ was visible.
Since then, the Canadian Coast Guard has removed the oil containment boom and is now closely monitoring the boat.
In its reluctance to accept responsibility for La Lumiere, the province seems to following the leads of thousands of boat owners who simply leave their boat behind to sink or float along the B.C. coast.
Derelict boats that litter the coast, including the Mamquam Blind Channel, pose navigational and environmental hazards, but overlapping jurisdictions ensures responsibility can be shirked.
Federal marine authorities get involved when there is a threat to navigation or spawning grounds, while provincial action is restricted to Crown-owned, foreshore land.
Municipalities have little power or resources to regulate or monitor the boats.
In May this year, we reported on a 40-foot landing craft that sank into water, spilling unknown quantity of oil into the blind channel.
The craft had been parked in the blind channel for over five years, said Steen Larsen, the caretaker of the boat.
Larsen said it’s a mystery how the craft sank.
Recently, local environmentalist John Buchanan surveyed the boats on the Mamquam Blind Channel.
Of the 40 boats parked there, he found at least three that most certainly appear to be derelict boats.
But to state a number with certainty is difficult, he said.
“You don’t know who is living on what boat and what is abandoned,” Buchanan said.
There is no official inventory of derelict or abandoned boats in the province, but some unofficial estimates put the number at 200.
In February this year, Buchanan also located a 15-metre wooden-hulled fishing boat abandoned near Anvil Island.
BC Ferries, Transport Canada, and Coast Guard all washed their hands off the boat, saying it’s not in their jurisdiction.
It’s still sitting on the beach slowly breaking apart over time, he said.
