There’s a larger issue in the attempt to restrict free anchorage at Gorge Waterway. It’s not an isolated change, even though that’s the way it’s being approached, without thought for the larger context of boat use on the B.C. coast.
And therein lies the greater problem for B.C.: Free and open access to our anchorages is being managed piecemeal, mainly with local interests in mind.
Good protected anchorages are likely more rare than most people realize. Even those implementing new rules for their waterways probably don’t have the larger regional perspective in mind.
Anchorages can generally be grouped into four categories: urban, rural, park and wilderness. The Gorge Waterway is an example of the approach being taken in urban waterways. Increasingly, it is to develop, control and ultimately restrict. The rationale for the change is most often troubles such as noise, clutter and crime. Forget that laws already exist to control these problems; the solution invariably involves limiting everyone’s boats, the good and the bad.
Urban waterways are also changing in the development of new services. In Victoria, a mega-yacht marina has been approved. In Nanaimo, a houseboat community of upscale floating homes is planned. With attached boat slips as virtual boat driveways, this is an idyllic vision for on-water living. These are perfect for the well-heeled few, and that is the ultimate progression: the coast will become a playground for the rich. Those who own boats on a budget won’t have a place in the urban waterways of the future beyond launching and going elsewhere. But where?
Rural anchorages face a different challenge: development by anarchy. Generally, these protected bays along the B.C. coast were the first to be inhabited and ultimately heavily developed, creating waterside communities where communities wouldn’t otherwise exist.
As houses moved in, so did the requirement for use of the anchorage, and so mooring buoys are increasingly common. These generally choke out anchorage locations; an example is Telegraph Harbour between Thetis and Penelakut islands. If you wish to anchor, don’t plan on the harbour. Stick to the unprotected outside edge.
The risk here is a lack of any master plan for suitable mooring buoy locations. This is privatization of the coast on a massive scale without forethought for the consequences.
Park anchorages, at least, are free of private development pressures, but they face increasing controls regardless. One example is Newcastle Island off Nanaimo. The protected harbour there, Mark Bay, has been populated with park-owned mooring buoys. Anchoring is now prohibited within the bay. Fees and restrictions on the number of nights per year is the result, and so free and open access to one more location disappears.
Wilderness anchorages still exist, and might yet for some time, but without services and access to transportation, there is a limit to how long a boat can stay. Visits generally can last no longer than the supply of food, water and energy before a boat must return to civilization to restock. So “going elsewhere” is no solution.
Yes, I am a live-aboard boater, but with a floating office to facilitate the production of my company’s coastal resources (as an author and publisher). It’s an apt way to live and conduct business. This might seem a unique setup, but probably not. With communication advancements and the ability to work anywhere in the world, it makes sense that professionals increasingly look to boats as a way to combine a unique lifestyle with work.
So the perception of live-aboards as derelict boats housing bums is incorrect. Marinas are filled these days with everyone from doctors to business owners who are opting for a different lifestyle.
Perhaps it’s inevitable that the days of transient live-aboard boats come to an end in B.C. Communities such as Dog Patch in Ladysmith can be viewed as a nuisance and an eyesore, but they can also be viewed as an interesting counter-culture community and last of a dying lifestyle suitable only for a particularly hardy breed. I would personally miss it if it goes, but no doubt it will eventually be cleaned up and cleared out as the community looks to gentrify its waterfront.
Disappearing with that lifestyle, though, is the ability to simply visit a location and drop an anchor in a safe bay. Cart away a few derelict boats and replace them with permits, fees, time restrictions, mooring buoys, reservations and other controls and what we’ll do is make the coast a restricted parking lot.
There might be no better way in the long run, but let’s at least be aware of what we’re doing before it’s a done deal.
John Kimantas, currently at anchor off Ladysmith, is author of The Wild Coast and the B.C. Coast Explorer guide books, editor/publisher of Coast & Kayak Magazine and owner of Wild Coast Publishing, all published aboard the MV Wild Coast.
