Dead Boats Disposal Society

Dead Boats Disposal Society
Formation2017[1][2]
FounderJohn Roe
Location
  • British Columbia, Canada
Websitedeadboatsdisposalsociety.ca

The Dead Boats Disposal Society (DBDS) is a non-profit group dedicated to the removal and disposal of abandoned boats and marine debris from shorelines in British Columbia, Canada.[3][4]

The Victoria-based Society[5] hauled 124 boats out of the water between 2017 and 2021, most from bays and inlets in the Capital Regional District from Sooke to the Gulf Islands.[6][7][8] In 2024, the Society's activity area included the waterways of the Fraser Valley.[9]

Issue

The problem of derelict boats is widespread along the British Columbia coast since, before July 2019 when the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act came into effect, it was not illegal to abandon a boat along Canada's coastline.[10] With the Act, the government of Canada gained enforcement powers to impose penalties on individuals of up to $50,000, and to remove problem vessels if they are a hazard to safety or a threat to the marine environment.[11] In the four years after the Act came into effect, only two fines had been levied.[12][13] The Saanich Inlet Protection Society says "It seems the only time they act is after the boats have sunk."[14][15]

A boat may be an environmental and navigation hazard for years before it sinks,[16] and John Roe of the DBDS notes that delaying action increases the cost of removal.[17] While local municipalities are left to deal with derelict boats that come ashore, the problem is complicated from a jurisdictional standpoint because the seabed is a provincial responsibility, activities on the surface are under the purview of the Coast Guard, and the water in between is subject to Fisheries and Oceans Canada authority.[18][4]

Process

Typically, when the Society is notified by the public about a problem boat, it conducts a survey to determine if the vessel is truly abandoned.[19][20] Once a boat is removed with a barge and crane, it is tested for contaminants, dismantled, and disposed of at appropriate landfills.[6] The cost to remove and dispose of a small craft ranges from $5,000 to $75,000.[21][14]

The DBDS pulled 124 abandoned vessels from British Columbia waterways between 2017 and 2021, including an estimated 89 vessels in 2020.[22][23] By February 2020, the group had removed 89,300 metric tonnes of marine debris.[23] In 2024, the DBDS worked with Transport Canada and a local group to remove approximately a dozen wrecked boats and debris from about a mile and a half of the Alouette River in the city of Pitt Meadows, in the Fraser Valley.[9][24]

Transport Canada estimates there are close to 1,600 abandoned and derelict boats in the waters of British Columbia, but the DBDS's John Roe believes the number is closer to 4,000 to 6,000.[14][25][26][27] Roe says that to end the proliferation of abandoned vessels, governments should track boat ownership, and penalize owners who "dump and flee".[27]

Funding

The Dead Boats Disposal Society has received grants and resources from "a long list of partners" including the Capital Regional District,[28] and Transport Canada's short-term Abandoned Boats Program.[29][30][31] The DBDS's plan to remove eight to ten derelict vessels and debris from the Alouette River in the Fraser Valley where salmon spawn, was hampered in 2023 by a lack of provincial government funding, but the project eventually went ahead with support from Transport Canada.[9][32][33]

The DBDS has said it would commit to a project like McBarge, the sunken former floating McDonald's restaurant on the Fraser River in Maple Ridge, if funds were available.[34] The federal government's Abandoned Boats Program (which launched in 2017 with an initial investment of $6.4 million and disposed of 223 vessels) was not renewed in 2026.[33] The province of B.C. said in 2026 that there was no funding allocated for its Clean Coast, Clean Waters initiative, which has funded the removal of 65 vessels in Tofino, Ucluelet, Opitsaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, and Ahousaht.[33]

Recognition

The Dead Boats Disposal Society's operations director and founder, John Roe,[14] has been cleaning up derelict boats from British Columbia waters for more than 25 years.[35][36] Roe received an award from Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes on February 25, 2019, for the DBDS's work removing problem boats from Cadboro Bay and the Gorge Waterway.[37]

References

  1. ↑ "About Us - Dead Boats Disposal Society".
  2. ↑ "Alouette River conservation group holding AGM". Maple Ridge News. 26 March 2024.
  3. ↑ "The Dead Boats Disposal Society".
  4. 1 2 Miltimore, Frances (21 September 2022). "Whose Boat is it Anyway? The Pitfalls and Jurisdictional Complications of the Canadian Problem Boat Regime". Canadian Bar Association.
  5. ↑ Kloster, Darron (17 February 2021). "Feds fund removal of more derelict boats from waters off Vancouver Island". Victoria Times Colonist.
  6. 1 2 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, British Columbia (24 August 2019). "Province seeking solutions to address abandoned boats".
  7. ↑ Paterson, Travis (25 January 2019). "Dead Boat Disposal team work midnight shift to pull boats from Caddy Bay: Group plans to remove 'sunken, abandoned boats' from B.C.'s shores". Saanich News.
  8. ↑ MacDonald, James (22 January 2021). "The abandoned boats washing up on Victoria's shores, in pictures: The Dead Boats Disposal Society has spent decades pulling the wrecks out of the water and off the beaches in Victoria". Capital Daily.
  9. 1 2 3 Little, Simon; Brown, Janet (27 February 2024). "Eyesore no more: Crews pulling derelict boats, debris from Alouette River". Global News.
  10. ↑ Transport Canada (30 October 2017). "Speaking Notes for the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport for a News Conference on Bill C-64, The Wrecked Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act". Government of Canada.
  11. ↑ Transport Canada (1 March 2019). "Government of Canada marks the passage of Bill C-64: the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act to address vessel abandonment and ensure owner accountability". Canada.ca.
  12. ↑ Rabson, Mia (12 July 2023). "Four years after passage of law on abandoned boats, only two fines have been levied". cheknews.ca.
  13. ↑ Brougham, Laura (18 July 2023). "Owner of boat in Cadboro Bay fire blames mechanical issue".
  14. 1 2 3 4 Arrais, Pedro (10 October 2021). "Canadian Coast Guard urges patience as it deals with up to 1,600 derelict boats". Victoria Times Colonist.
  15. ↑ Weston, Scott (6 October 2021). "Marine advocates demand action by federal government after abandoned boats sink off Vancouver Island". CTV News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021.
  16. ↑ Depner, Wolf (22 October 2021). "Abandoned boat legislation leaves Vancouver Island lobby group with a sinking feeling: Officials waiting too long to remove dilapidated boats, says Saanich Inlet Protection Society". Cowichan Valley Citizen.
  17. ↑ Sjuberg, Gail (9 November 2021). "Dead Boats Society Wants Your Derelicts". Gulf Islands Driftwood.
  18. ↑ Descoteau, Don (9 October 2020). "Greater Victoria's coastal communities take derelict boat issue to the CRD: Group looking for regional body to partner on regulation recommendations". Oak Bay News.
  19. ↑ Kotyk, Alyse (26 August 2021). "There are around 1,400 boats abandoned on BC.'s coast, boat removal society says". CTV News.
  20. ↑ Grossman, Nina (1 March 2019). "Dead Boat Disposal Society seeks owners of boats ashore near Oak Bay Marina". Victoria News.
  21. ↑ CBC News (7 March 2021). "Federal funding boosts volunteer efforts to remove thousands of abandoned boats in B.C.: Leaky, busted, rusty dinghies and boats wreak environmental havoc".
  22. ↑ Miller, Desiree (18 April 2023). "Abandoned Dreams: Abandoned and dilapidated boats are an issue impacting communities all along British Columbia's coast". British Columbia Magazine.
  23. 1 2 Paterson, Travis (20 February 2020). "Group continues to pull sunken, abandoned wrecks from Salish Sea: Dead Boats society inching towards 89 wrecks pulled from Capital Regional waters". Today in BC.
  24. ↑ Corbett, Neil (13 February 2024). "Dead boats will be removed from river in Pitt Meadows". Maple Ridge News.
  25. ↑ Bender, Quinn (18 February 2021). "37 abandoned B.C. boats targeted for removal from shoreline". Northern Sentinel.
  26. ↑ Laurin, Olivier (15 August 2023). "Derelict boats, Part 2: 'A persistent source of pollution' in B.C. and beyond". Maple Ridge News.
  27. 1 2 "ALONG THE FRASER: Cleaning up B.C. waterways is John Roe's passion". Maple Ridge News. 11 May 2024.
  28. ↑ Paterson, Travis (25 August 2019). "Dead Boats Society moving towards 100 wreckages removed from the Salish Sea: 'Gorge Guy' John Roe on his way to removing another 39 derelicts". Vancouver Island Free Daily.
  29. ↑ Province of British Columbia (February 2020). "What We Heard on Marine Debris in B.C." (PDF).
  30. ↑ Province of British Columbia. "Addressing Abandoned Vessels, Marine Debris and Marine-Sourced Plastics in B.C." gov.bc.ca.
  31. ↑ "Our Partners". Dead Boats Disposal Society.
  32. ↑ McSheffrey, Elizabeth; Charles, Troy (28 July 2023). "Abandoned boat removal groups disappointed with B.C.'s rejection of funding request". Global News.
  33. 1 2 3 O'Malley, Nora (10 June 2026). "Abandoned boats left high and dry on west coast as funding cuts deepen". vicnews.com.
  34. ↑ Corbett, Neil (25 November 2025). "Wreck of the McBarge is blocking Maple Ridge business expansion".
  35. ↑ "One sunken boat pollutes ocean as much as 480,000 plastic straws, non-profit says: Dead Boat Disposal Society one of several groups working with B.C. gov't to find solution to abandoned vessels". 31 August 2019.
  36. ↑ Willcocks, Paul (1 September 2016). "Reflections on an Urban Swim, and the Changes One Person Can Make: Victoria's Gorge waterway, once a dumping ground, takes on renewed life". The Tyee.
  37. ↑ Depner, Wolf (1 March 2019). "Saanich recognizes Dead Boat Society lead for helping clean up Cadboro Bay". Saanich News.
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