Coast Guard officials were out in Garrans Bay to assess a 40-foot Chris-Craft-style wooden vessel called Chuckanut Belle after residents reported it was partially submerged.
The boat was observed to be taking on water Dec. 3 in its Pender Harbour location. The Coast Guard told Coast Reporter its Environmental Response and Vessels of Concern officers assessed it and after finding it to be a low risk to pollute handed it over to Transport Canada for action under the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act.
Transport Canada confirmed it had received information about the vessel and “it has been added to our list of vessels for assessment.”
Because it isn’t considered to pose an immediate hazard, including to navigation, Transport Canada said it will begin it official assessment “within the next 30 days.”
The Pender Harbour and Area Residents’ Association (PHARA) had previously received approval from Transport Canada’s Abandoned Boats Program to “assess the Chuckanut Belle and another houseboat that had been attached to it for some time,” PHARA president Peter Robson told Coast Reporter.
The group had intended to apply for funding to remove the vessels under the program but were unable to find the owners for permission to board and remove the vessels.
“That funding is still in place and we believe the owner will come forward now that the Chuckanut is in the spotlight. We’re also pursuing other avenues to have permission for this (and other derelicts) to be declared as such by the federal government when we can’t locate owners,” said Robson.
There are about a dozen other derelict vessels in Pender Harbour that the group is hoping to remove using funds from the next round of the Abandoned Boats program.
