Well, it's my experience--I'm somewhat familiar with what's going on across the country in addition to my own region--that it seems like a problem that is emerging more often. We have a case in our region now in Bay Roberts in Mr. Manning's riding where there are two Lithuanian trawlers, 180 feet long, 750-tonne vessels, that have been abandoned there and they've been there for a period of five years. We have exhausted and used a fair amount of resources trying to get the owners to take some responsibility. We reached the point of examining the options. There are legislative powers, in our case in the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act, that allow for the seizure of those vessels, which is what we eventually did. But it was something that was done with some reluctance after all other avenues had been exhausted.
I see it as an emerging issue. Ultimately, the vessel owner is responsible, so we work on a smaller scale with harbour authorities to ensure they have berthage agreements, that there are provisions in there that the insurance can be in effect that could allow for if these things are abandoned.
We are seeing it as an increasing problem, and I think it probably requires some coordinated effort between a number of departments to really, truly address the matter. I'm speaking probably out of my area now, but there's a Receiver of Wreck who has responsibilities under Transport Canada. There's a legal issue. There are environmental issues related to ocean dumping. It's not as simple as just scuttling a vessel any more, perhaps as it was sometime back, which is all a good thing. There are implications for these things, so it is a complex issue with legal ramifications.