Thank you for the invitation to appear before you.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, like other Canadian port authorities, is established by the Government of Canada pursuant to the Canada Marine Act, and is accountable to the federal Minister of Transport.
Our mandate is to facilitate Canada's trade objectives, ensuring that goods are moved safely, while protecting the environment and considering local communities.
The Port of Vancouver is Canada's largest port by a wide margin. Our jurisdiction, for those of you familiar with B.C.'s Lower Mainland, includes the Burrard Inlet and the surrounding land in downtown Vancouver, and much of the Fraser River, for a total of 16,000 hectares of water, more than 1,000 hectares of land, and approximately 350 kilometres of shoreline. The port borders 60 municipalities, and intersects the asserted and established traditional territories and treaty lands of several Coast Salish First Nations.
The nature of the area is such that the issue of wrecks, abandoned, and hazardous recreational vessels is a significant one for the port authority. Within our jurisdiction, English Bay, Burrard Inlet, and the Fraser River are very popular for recreational and small commercial boating, and derelict vessels are a common occurrence. The problem has been particularly acute on the Fraser River, so much so that several years ago we completed a risk assessment of all derelict sites, including vessels, to determine the likelihood and severity of their potential impact on public safety, the environment and navigation.
We then started work on the eastside by trying to contact owners and, where possible, working with them to ensure safe removal. The port authority committed approximately $2 million over five years to the initiative, and to date we have cleaned up 144 of 151 identified sites.
The main challenge we have with recreational derelict boats has been the inability to trace ownership in the current pleasure craft licensing system. As you are aware, the system has required only recreational vessels that are powered by an engine of 10 hp. to be licensed. Larger recreational sailboats that become derelict are often not in the licensing system because many have engines that are just under the 10 hp. threshold. Further, it has been difficult to identify owners of vessels even if the vessel is in the licensing system because there is no real requirement to transfer the record of that ownership in the event that the vessel is sold.
Lastly, mandatory insurance has not been required for recreational craft, as is the case for automobiles. The absence of insurance often means that there are no funds available from the owner to remove derelict recreational vessels.
Therefore, the port authority welcomes appropriate regulation that would address the challenge of cleaning up derelict vessels and improve the port authority's ability to keep our waterways clean and safe.
In summary, I am pleased to say that the port authority fully supports this bill, and in particular the provisions to prohibit vessel abandonment, strengthen owner responsibility and liability for hazardous vessels and wrecks, and empower government to take proactive action on hazardous vessels before they become more costly to Canadians. These changes are much needed and will go a long way towards addressing the environmental and safety issues problem prevalent vessels pose.