RCMP to screen recreational boats travelling to P.E.I.

The RCMP on P.E.I. say they will be screening recreational boats travelling to the Island to ensure compliance with orders from the Chief Public Health Office.

All non-essential travel into P.E.I. is currently prohibited due to COVID-19. All travellers entering the province are being screened at points of entry like the airport, Confederation Bridge and ferry terminals.

"If we see a vessel we're certainly going to go check them and ask those questions similar to what people arriving at the Confederation Bridge are going through right now," said Const. Thane MacEachern, P.E.I. RCMP border integrity coordinator.

"If they say they are coming to the Island, then obviously they will have to be screened in conjunction with the public health order."

No reports of unlawful arrival by boat

On Friday RCMP said they have begun patrolling the coastlines and waterways of P.E.I. 

"We do this every year. It's just this year, there's obviously more of an emphasis on ensuring that recreational vessel traffic is not trying to circumvent public health orders," said MacEachern.

He said the RCMP does not have any reason to believe that people may be trying to use boats to gain access to the Island to get around those orders.

"We have not received any phone calls to that effect," he said. "Right now we're just making sure it doesn't happen."

The unit typically checks for boating licenses and goes over some of the safety equipment during their routine checks, MacEachern said.

"The mandate for the unit has always been boating safety and border integrity."

MacEachern said RCMP are also aboard Coast Guard vessels patrolling the Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

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