The Capital Regional District is hoping for more than $1 million in federal funding to clean beaches and harbours of derelict boats.
Members of the CRD’s environmental services committee have endorsed staff recommendations that the region apply for $1.05 million through the federal Abandoned Boats Initiative — $50,000 in abandoned boat education and awareness funding and $1 million in abandoned-boat assessment and removals funding.
CRD contributions of about $350,000 would bring the total to about $1.4 million. The funding would anchor a multi-year initiative that would start in 2018.
Larisa Hutcheson, general manager for parks and environmental services, said the $1.4 million represents “just an estimate of what it would take to take a stab at dealing with the derelict boats in this region.”
She said the application process is complex and will require considerable preparation.
“It’s a very comprehensive application,” she said. “There’s a global piece to the funding application and then a boat-by-boat application that needs to be submitted.”
The recommendations follow a meeting last week with Terry Beech, parliamentary secretary to Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
John Roe, founder of the Veins of Life Stewardship Society, said undertaking an inventory of derelicts is no small task and will require a regional approach and community support.
“Because it’s tidal waters and these are all little inlets and beaches, it’s going to take a considerable amount of staff time just to go out and identify these boats — just the ones that are on the beaches and the ones that are sunk,” Roe said.
A 2014 report done for Transport Canada indicated there were as many as 245 vessels of concern within B.C. waterways, CRD staff said. About 22 per cent of those are in capital region waterways, particularly Burgoyne Bay, Fulford Harbour, Pender Harbour, Brentwood Bay, Selkirk Waterway and Sooke Harbour.
Staff said an updated assessment of quantity and types of derelict vessels in the CRD will have to be done to accurately calculate removal costs.
A CRD staff report suggests abandoned vessels have significant environmental implications, including discharge of sewage effluent, garbage, fuels and bilge water, and damage to shoreline and seabed ecosystems.
The committee is also recommending the CRD board approach other south Vancouver Island regional districts, the Islands Trust and First Nations to look for opportunities to work together to address abandoned boats.
Members also supported writing to federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau, suggesting that B.C. be used as a test site for a program in which vessel licensing is permanently tied to a hull, and that a program be set up to collect fees for vessel removal.
