The city of Port Moody is grappling with a New Year's hangover related not to too much celebration but a lack thereof: a boat that ran aground at Rocky Point Park, prompting cancellation of the annual Jan. 1 Penguin Plunge and leaving the city with a rather large, heavy headache.
On Dec. 31, a man was planning to take friends to Vancouver for the fireworks show when he realized the boat was sinking, said PoMo Mayor Mike Clay, and beached the vessel at the Rocky Point dock. Port Metro Vancouver and the Coast Guard were called to assist and a boom and absorbent pads were placed around the boat to soak up a small amount of fuel that had leaked.
City staff returned on Jan. 3 with a boat moving company that worked throughout the day to try to move the craft out of the water and secure it but, when the vessel proved too heavy, a large crane was called in.
The owner of the boat, who remained at the scene on New Year's Eve, later stopped answering the phone, Clay said.
"He was being very helpful and communicative until he realized it was going to cost him three times what the boat is worth," the mayor said, noting the issue of derelict or abandoned boats raises a jurisdictional quandary.
"Port [Metro Vancouver] will tell you they are responsible for ensuring the navigation of the the port, so they don't care, and the Coast Guard, if there's no immediate risk to the environment or safety, they don't care, and Transport Canada doesn't care about it seemingly ever," he said. "That left us with all these complaints about a boat lying on the boat ramp, so obviously we need to do something about it.
"We're the only party left in this game that doesn't say, 'We're just going to let it sit there.' Until when? When it breaks into a million pieces?"
Clay estimated the cost of removing the boat will likely be up to $10,000 and the city isn't holding out much hope of recovering that from the boat owner.
The new Designated Anchorage Area bylaw, which will be implemented this year, would have required the boat owner to have insurance that could have paid the removal costs.
The vessel will likely be transported to the old fire hall lot, a spot where the city had been storing another derelict boat until it was sold two weeks ago.
In an email to local stewardship groups, Margot Davis, PoMo's manager of sustainability, said the Coast Guard removed residual fuel after the boat was lifted out and no discharge to the environment was observed, with minimal sheen in the inlet.
Marine biologist and Mossom Creek Hatchery co-founder Rod MacVicar said fuel slicks in the inlet can be a significant hazard for the black turnstones, a species of bird that is unique to the area and overwinters on the pier and shoreline.
"It's not a species that's internationally a concern but it's a rare one in the harbour," MacVicar said.
Despite the sudden scrubbing of the official Penguin Plunge, Clay said about 75 people showed up across the inlet at Old Orchard beach to take a ceremonial New Year's dip, with many more spectators lining the shore.
