Neighbours say it’s time for federal officials to remove a derelict sailboat that’s been wedged into the soft sand of Gonzales Beach through spring and summer.
Its condition has deteriorated as months have passed. It was initially beached in a March 27 storm.
Today, the 36-foot sailboat is virtually gutted. Water is pooling inside. Cracks run through interior wood. A mast, sail and wire rigging are partly buried in the sand next to it. Barnacles are latched onto the hull’s port side.
“It needs to be removed,” said Geraldine Glattstein, a local resident who walks daily on the beach and has been talking about the issue with neighbours.
She said she has spoken with its owner who also has a sailboat moored in the bay and another boat that recently arrived.
The grounded boat is tilting into the sand near the foot of the sloping public walkway on the west end of the popular beach. Children have been seen climbing on it, Glattstein said.
An American visitor said his wife recently tripped over ropes running from the boat.
Area residents say they’ve had no success convincing different levels of government to take action.
Transport Canada is the lead agency responsible for the Gonzales Bay boat.
“This vessel is currently undergoing a thorough assessment and Transport Canada are working with the owner towards a resolution. The outcome of the assessment will determine what future steps are taken,” Transport Canada spokesman Hicham Ayoun said.
In Canada, owners are prohibited from abandoning their boats or letting them become dilapidated. Failure to comply can result in enforcement actions being taken, he said.
Wrecked and abandoned boats cause significant safety and environmental hazards.
Transport Canada works with the Canadian Coast Guard to administer the Wrecked Abandoned and Hazardous Vessel Act, passed in 2019. Each year, Transport Canada assesses hundreds of vessels to ensure that vessel owners are following the act, Ayoun said.
The Canadian Coast Guard was notified about the Gonzales Bay boat after the March storm.
Coast guard representatives went to the scene and assessed the vessel as a low hazard to pollute hydrocarbons, coast guard spokesperson Michelle Imbeau said. The coast guard has contacted the owner, she said.
When it comes to responsibilities, the coast guard takes the lead in dealing with hazardous vessels. Transport Canada takes the lead for wrecked and abandoned vessels
“Coast guard continues to monitor the vessel and, in the event that the situation changes or the vessel deteriorates and becomes a hazard, we are prepared to take action if required,” Imbeau said.
Abandoned or wrecked boats have been a decades-long issue on B.C.’s coast and a source of frustration for many communities.
In some cases owners retrieve their vessels but others may just walk away.
As well as Gonzales, a small bay next to Beach Drive in Oak Bay and Cadboro Bay are among sites where boats have ended up on shore. At one point in 2017, a total of 16 boats were abandoned on the Oak Bay side of Cadboro Bay.
When agencies do move in to deal with an abandoned craft it doesn’t always happen quickly. Federal officials are working to remove a partly sunken barge holding a damaged lodge at Quadra Island which first ran into trouble three years ago.
The goal is to remove it next month. The province and federal governments are splitting the costs. Action is happening because structures have recently starting to deteriorate significantly, officials said.
Although federal agencies are responsible for unwanted vessels, the province, local governments and the private sector have stepped up in the past.
Several Cowichan Bay businesses joined forces to move six derelict boats posing environmental and public safety risks in June 2017, using a helicopter to lift two wrecks, while others were towed.
“There has been a lot of talk about the problem of derelict boats, but no one seemed ready to take action,” Brian Thacker, owner of Pacific Industrial & Marine, said at the time. “That’s why a number of us got together and took matters into our own hands.”
Cadboro Bay, which is in both Oak Bay and Saanich, has been a hot spot for abandoned vessels and was the site of extensive cleanups in 2017. Several tonnes of garbage and vessels were removed after citizens banded together and galvanized local governments to help with the cleanup.
As of Friday, 1,489 vessels were listed on the national inventory of abandoned and wrecked vessels.
Of those, 1,047 are in B.C. — mainly sailing vessels, fishing boats and motor boats. Others include tugs and commercial vessels.
> To report an abandoned vessel, call 1-800-889-8852.
To view the Canada’s national inventory of wrecked, abandoned or hazardous vessels go to https://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/awah-ienad/inventory-inventaire/index-eng.html
