An online rally through social media led to a Canadian Coast Guard inspection of one of Squamish’s most unpopular vessels. But besides taking note of what’s aboard, there’s little coast guard officials can do to rid the community of the eyesore anchored off its shore said Squamish resident Tim Cyr.
This week, Cyr hit up Facebook asking citizens phone and email the Canadian Coast Guard demanding they tour Spudnik, a former U.S. Navy transport freighter moored in Howe Sound.
On Tuesday, Sept. 2, the coast
guard obliged.
Counter to popular belief the 59.7-metre long vessel is not listing, coast guard officials told Cyr. There was some paint stored on the boat and a few cans were leaking, Cyr said. But without any immediate threat of pollution, their hands were tied, he noted.
“Unfortunately there is not much they can do about it,” he said.
Cyr is concerned that the buoy the ship is attached to is sinking. The buoy hasn’t been maintained in 12 years, he noted. Last May, the vessel broke lose from its mooring, a fate Cyr doesn’t want to see re-occur.
“I just want to make sure the thing doesn’t sink,” he said.
The coast guard’s environmental response crew have visited the ship twice since its arrival in Squamish last March, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Pacific Region spokesperson Dan Bate wrote in an email.
“Results of these inspections have determined that a quantity of diesel fuel and lubricating oil is onboard the vessel,” he stated.
Based on these findings and the potential for the vessel to cause environmental damage, Canadian Coast Guard may issue a formal direction order to the owner to remove the quantities of oil and diesel pollutants found inside vessel, Bate stated.
The vessel, owned by local Steen Larsen, has become a bone of contention. Ocean laws are a quagmire of jurisdictions, water lot ownerships and individual rights. While the province owns much
of B.C.’s land covered by water, the
ability to make laws and regulate what goes on in navigable waters is a
federal responsibility.
That has left residents and municipal officials frustrated. In 2010, B.C. municipalities petitioned senior levels of government to develop a co-ordinated, timely approach to dealing with aging, poorly maintained and derelict vessels. This year, the feds released a report on the subject, but no action has yet been taken in response.
The Squamish Chief was unable to contact Larsen before press time.
