In January 2020, working closely with John Roe from the Dead Boat Disposal Society, Salish Sea Industrial Services continued our work on the Abandoned Boat Program. We removed and disposed of 19 boats on Penelakut Island, British Columbia, in cooperation with the Penelakut Nation ensuring we mitigated any environmental risks and respected their land.
In early February, we coordinated the removal of the Castle Finn on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. The Castle Finn is a concrete catamaran boat that was beached and stranded in Ganges Harbour. We developed a plan that required accessing the boat from a nearby beach parking lot. This work was coordinated around low tides and started during a night shift operation. We utilized swamp pads and built an access path to limit our disturbance to the inter-tidal area. Respecting the fisheries window, we completed this work successfully.
There were 50-100 local bystanders watching our work who were extremely happy to see this boat gone.
By Rob Menzies, Project Manager, Salish Sea Industrial Services
