I was hired by the Council of the Haida Nation to develop a marine exercise that represented something that needed to be done. There were high risks. It became quite obvious that it was the container vessel traffic in B.C. Because of its growth and the nature of container vessels, the high-drift rate requirements were very high and tug interventions could be needed, as well as places to refuge.
I put in about three months putting a whole marine exercise together. This was supposed to have been a collaborative endeavour by the Council of the Haida Nation, Transport Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard. Right at the very end, about a week before the entire exercise, all that work was thrown to one side and the whole exercise was converted to a marine oil spill. That was the comfort zone of the Canadian Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard wasn't prepared to get their minds wrapped around all of these issues that are being talked about today, such as being able to do aerial field observations to determine where the debris is; applying the shoreline cleanup assessment techniques, or SCAT, which is my expertise; managing a workforce; providing the right notifications and engagements for local communities; what not to do, such as not coming on the beach; and having safety training. That's just the scope of the issues. It never went anywhere. It was turned into another oil spill exercise, like we've been doing for probably the last 30 years.
