Derelict Boats

I am being crazy and considering buying a sailboat and this has had me near the shore in Brentwood recently.   I had no idea that there were so many boats moored there and seemingly the majority of them illegal.  One of the boats that is advertised is moored out there and the mooring comes free with the boat - if you know anything of the costs and availability of mooring in this region, that seems very fishy to me.

Today I was reading Saanich Voice Online and came across a piece by Ed Johnson from June 1st about the derelict boats in Tod Inlet.  He did a tour of the inlet and produced this short video:



This is a problem all over the region and all along the coast.   No one takes any responsibility for the boats and no one charges them with anything.   Every decent sized boat with an engine is registered, it should be an easy task to find the owner.

There needs to be an enforceable regulation with serious fines to get people to quit littering the inshore waters with boats that should be scrapped.   The Federal government should give local governments the power to enforce the regulations and let them have 90% of any fines.

If the feds are not going to act, the time has come for local governments and groups to sue the Federal government for damages.

Here is a story from last fall about the issue:



This is a report from my neighbourhood:



There are clear owners for the ships and they have to be held completely and entirely accountable for the ships.   There should be no costs to the public.  There should be no damage to the environment from these ships.

Some more reports:

From Cowichan Bay


From Saltspring



Two old ferries rotting on the Fraser - the Queen of Sidney and the San Mateo