Derelict floating house in waters of Desolation Sound raises jurisdictional concerns
'It is bothersome to me to know that this has been allowed to go on as long as it has.'
An apparent lack of action to deal with a derelict floating house abandoned on the edge of Desolation Sound Marine Park is raising concerns from one boater who wants the mess cleaned up.
Early in August Alan Bishop sailed up Pendrell Sound, north of B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, expecting to find a pristine anchorage to spend a few days relaxing on his boat.
But instead he was startled to find a damaged bunkhouse tied to the shore, surrounded by its own debris.
Building materials — including wires, metal cladding, insulation, wires, foam flotation — were spilling out from its broken walls.
"It looked as though it had been there for quite some time, given the scattering of the wreckage and the algae growing on the lines securing the remains of the wreckage to the shore," he told CBC News upon his return.
He snapped some pictures of the structure while some other boaters went inside and tried unsuccessfully to determine where it came from or who might have left it there.
Lack of response frustrating
When he returned home, Bishop started firing off emails with his photos to B.C. government officials in an attempt to get the mess cleaned up.
"It is bothersome to me to know that this has been allowed to go on as long as it has."
None of the government officials responded, so he reached out to CBC News, which contacted B.C.'s Ministry of the Environment, responsible for the management of Desolation Marine Park.
Wrong side of the line
Ministry officials said nobody knew where the derelict bunkhouse came from, but since it was not technically inside the provincial marine park, it was considered a federal concern.
CBC News then contacted Transport Canada, which confirmed that its Navigation Protection Program is aware of the floating house and is working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada to assess the situation.
But since the structure is clearly not a vessel it does not qualify for Transport Canada's Abandoned Boats Program, which provides federal funding to assist in the removal and disposal of abandoned and/or wrecked small boats.
Frustrated again
Those responses left Bishop feeling frustrated that little appeared to be happening to remove the structure and clean up the area.
"Is this thing in a no-man's land between federal and provincial jurisdiction? Are there statutes that can — or should — be applied to promptly remedy this? Are there federal or provincial resources available to remove the wreckage and clean up the surrounding waters and shoreline?" he said earlier this week.
"It just concerns me to encounter something like that, unnecessarily polluting the pristine waters in such a special area, bounded by a provincial park — especially where, with each day it is left there, the environmental impact grows."
While there is no sign of any particularly toxic pollutants, he's still concerned about the mess it is leaving.
One last cry for help
Frustrated by the lack of action, Bishop fired off an email to B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver on Thursday afternoon.
Thirty minutes after that, he had his first call back from Rhonda Brett, an emergency response officer from B.C.'s Ministry of the Environment.
While Bishop is unsure whether his email to Weaver prompted the ministry's response — or if the timing was a coincidence — he notes that it came more than two weeks after he first contacted the ministry himself.
"She indicated that the [ministry] would be making a request to the Coast Guard to go to the site to determine if the floating structure was still there and to assess the damage."
He is glad to see something finally being done, but Bishop has new concerns that the ministry responsible for running B.C.'s marine parks didn't appear to have the resources to access the site itself.
"That's remarkable, considering that the province has so many water-access-only marine parks," he said Friday.
But as he readied his sailboat for an upcoming weekend trip to the Gulf Islands, he said he is hopeful something will finally be done to remove the float wreckage in Pendrell Sound.
