Taxpayers face steep bill to remove sunken vessel in Ladysmith

A proposed new law to prevent abandonment of derelict boats has come too late for the Vancouver Island community of Ladysmith.

The 90-foot Anapaya sank in Ladysmith Harbour Oct. 21, just days before Canada's transportation minister, Marc Garneau, introduced legislation in the form of Bill C-64, to respond to what he called the "blight" of derelict vessels.

The new Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act, introduced Monday in the House of Commons, would make it illegal to abandon boats, while empowering the government to go after owners with fines of up to $300,000.

Rod Smith, the executive director of the Ladysmith Maritime Society, says the raising and recovery of the Anapaya which is being led by the Coast Guard will be slow, difficult and costly for taxpayers.

"Normally, there would be a simpler process of putting some kind of inflation device inside the vessel, perhaps slinging it underneath and breaking it up, but, this one, I think, is in danger of breaking up," he told On the Island guest host Khalil Akhtar.

Smith, who also runs a marina adjacent to the dock where the Anapaya went down, said the federal government's Bill C-64 is a good first step.

However, he said, Bill C-352, a private member's bill introduced earlier this year by Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson goes further, calling it "a comprehensive program that would end this jurisdictional nightmare."

"We could have approached the Coast Guard about doing removal of this vessel before it went down," he said.

"They would have had a clear opportunity to find the funding to take care of it before it becomes a nightmare that costs 10 times as much as it would have cost originally," Smith said.

 Last year, it cost more than $1 million to remove the Viki Lyne II from Ladysmith's harbour, four years after it was abandoned nearby.

With files from CBC Radio One On the Island.