Conservationist and boater John Buchanan keeps an eye out for anything unusual while out on the waters of Howe Sound.
While doing his annual herring spawn survey earlier this month, Buchanan dropped his underwater camera down near Darrell Bay to get a look at a ship he could see had recently sunk there.
He discovered it was the Salten, a wooden 12-metre, 1947 fishing boat, according to Transport Canada’s vessel registration query system.
There was a very slight sign of oil leaking from the bow and also from the stern, Buchanan said.
“The boat is loaded with all sorts of garbage,” but the most worrisome sight was five, 45-gallon drums in the stern hold, he said.
“It was previously moored at the Mamquam Blind Channel and recently moved to Darrell Bay.”
On Feb. 21, a Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations officer posted a notice of trespass on Mamquam Blind Channel pilings.
“This notice is being posted at this time in order to provide you with an opportunity to legalize the occupation or relocate or re-secure your vessel to a location other than unauthorized piling, dolphin, log, wharf, dock or structure,” read the notices. The boat owner was given until Jan. 30 to deal with the vessels.
On March 7, the Coast Guard responded to Buchanan’s report of the drums and an oily sheen on the surface of the water that he believed to be from the Salten.
The “Coast Guard responded to the report and didn’t find any recoverable pollutants as the sheen had quickly dissipated,” a spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada said by email.
The Coast Guard, the email continued, “spoke with the owner of the vessel at that time. According to the owner, all fuel was transferred from the Salten to another vessel. The barrels that can be observed on board the Salten are full of seawater for ballast.”
The Salten was deemed to not be a risk to pollute hydrocarbons, according to the Coast Guard, which is continuing to monitor the situation on a daily basis.
The ship’s last registered owner, according to Transport Canada, was Alistair James Bruce of Squamish, who is listed as a defendant in a corporate notice of civil claim filed with the B.C. Supreme Court registry in Vancouver on Jan. 6. In the document, Squamish Ocean Point Holdings Inc. (Waterfront Landing) made a claim for damages for trespass related to unauthorized mooring of vessels in the Mamquam Blind Channel. Seven other defendants are part of the claim.
The Salten’s owner could not be reached for comment.
***Please note this story has been corrected to reflect the notice ending Jan. 30 applied to the one boat, the Salten, not others.
