Newsletter from Madeline Dunnett of The Discourse https://thediscourse.ca/comox-valley, providing an update on those 2 vessels, one beached for over 18 months and the other rests on the ocean floor at low tide. We are so lucky to have a talented journalist determined to get the answers regarding Deep Water Recovery ship breaking.
DWR’s excuse to churn up the ocean front is that it was already damaged due to the log sort. That doesn’t justify intentionally preventing it from ever recovering by torching/painting, power washing on soil, guaranteeing the detritus runs down into the marine environment. How much more do they feel justified in destroying for their foreign owned business?
| Hi everyone, This week my head is deep into the ongoing saga of Deep Water Recovery’s controversial ship breaking operations in Union Bay. Since my last story, about provincial ministers’ plea for the federal government to do something, there’s been a big question on my mind: who approved the transport of derelict vessels to the site? According to the ministers’ letter, that’s a federal responsibility. But the federal government disagrees. “Under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, the owner was not required to obtain Transport Canada approval to tow vessels to the site,” according to a statement I received today by email. “A vessel being towed for recycling is usually deregistered, as was the case with these vessels. A deregistered vessel is not a Canadian Vessel under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, which limits Transport Canada’s regulatory authority.” Here, again, we see evidence of how the cross-jurisdictional regulation of this industry makes it so complicated and hard to pin down. I’m glad to get this (unsatisfying) answer, and it also opens up so many new questions. I feel like I’ve only just skimmed the surface of the full situation and there are so many directions to go on the topic. I still really want to dig into the industry as a whole and look into it from a regulatory standpoint in Canada, considering this country doesn’t have any federal ship breaking regulations. Stay tuned for my next report! In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this week’s roundup of local and Island-wide news.  Thanks for reading, Share this newsletter: |
Previous article by Madeline regarding the ship breaking in Union Bay.
allthingsunionbay 