No, it isn’t over yet for the Annapolis.
There is still no decision on the fate of the decommissioned destroyer, which is slated to become B.C.’s eighth artificial reef.
The Save Halkett Bay Marine
Park Society and Environment Canada faced off in federal court Feb. 25 and 26 over the right of the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia to sink the ship in Halkett Bay. The Save Halkett Bay group argues that the ship is unsafe to sink due to toxic chemicals in the ship’s paint that are dangerous to marine-life and that Environment Canada should not have issued the reef society a disposal at sea permit, allowing it to sink the ship.
The reef society argues that the ship is clean and that the paint on the ship is inactive and therefore of no risk to marine life.
“The Artificial Reef Society is above all else an environmental organization and it has spent the last seven years meticulously cleaning the Annapolis to the highest environmental standards.
It is expected that once the Annapolis is sunk, the artificial reef will provide an ideal habitat for several species at Halkett Bay,” the Artificial Reef Society of BC’s lawyer, Bryan Hicks, told The Squamish Chief by email.
Hicks argued in court that the 1960s era ship could sink at any time, by accident, at its temporary home in Long Bay on Gambier Island and cause environmental damage that could cost about upwards of $2 million to clean up, according to the Canadian Press.
The judge is currently considering the arguments made in court, and all sides are waiting for the judge’s decision.
Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society has been fighting the sinking of the Annapolis for the past six years.
