More than a dozen abandoned boats litter Toronto’s shoreline. Some on city council want to speed up their cleanup

Toronto council motions tackle abandoned watercraft and more safety rules for the busier city waterfront.

Thestar.com
April 7, 2022
Francine Kopun

There are 13 derelict boats littering the water between the Scarborough Bluffs and Humber Bay, and some Toronto councillors think it’s time for the city to look at whether they can more quickly be dealt with.

“There’s a process at the federal level to monitor and remove abandoned boats, but it takes too long, and when these boats sink they leak gas and other pollutants into the lake,” said Coun. Mark Grimes (Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore), who plans to introduce the matter in a member motion at council this week.

The member motion requests that the city look at developing a framework for dealing with derelict boats and undertake an educational campaign to inform the public about the process for reporting abandoned vessels.

“The purpose of this motion is to see if there’s a way the city can help expedite the process to get hazardous boats out of the water faster and prevent future incidents,” said Grimes.

There are more than 2,000 abandoned vessels in Canadian waters, according to Robert Brooks, director, vessels of concern, Canadian Coast Guard. Locally, there are five on the Toronto Islands, four in the Humber Bay area and four in the Bluffer’s Park area. From Pickering to St. Catharines, there are 19 abandoned boats in the waters off the GTHA shoreline.

The coast guard list does not include vessels that have been abandoned on land, which can create problems for marinas.

Cases are addressed in order of importance, based on the potential risk to the environment and navigation. For example, a vessel releasing hydrocarbons into the water would be a priority, according to Brooks.

Brooks said it’s just not possible to remove all 2,000 derelict vessels quickly.

“We’re tackling it in small pieces. The challenge we have is we have the longest coastline in the world,” he said.

Last week the coast guard removed a cabin cruiser called the Enof, from Bluffer’s Park. Two other vessels in the Toronto area, including a second one in Bluffer’s Park, are scheduled to be removed soon.

It can cost up to $25,000 to remove a derelict pleasure boat from the water, depending on the craft and the circumstances, and as much as $30 million to remove a large commercial vessel, according to Brooks. While commercial vessels are sometimes covered by insurance, private boat owners are on the hook for the cost of having their boats removed.
Derelict commercial vessels are more common in the waters off Montreal and in the St. Lawrence Seaway, where there are 105 larger vessels, according to Brooks.

The coast guard has removed more than 500 vessels across Canada over the last five years, as part of the Oceans Protection Plan, a $1.5-billion initiative announced by the federal government in 2016, said Brooks.

A key element of the package was the passage of the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act, which, for the first time, made it illegal for owners to abandon their boats in Canada.

Grimes is also proposing a motion to better regulate nuisance boaters in summer -- he and others say there has been a recent rise in the number of vessels plying the waters off the Toronto shoreline -- possibly as a result of COVID, which restricted many activities in other areas.

That motion asks for safety enhancements for boaters, new water speed signage and an educational campaign with an enforcement component provided by the Toronto Police Service Marine Unit.

“Certainly during the pandemic, we saw way more usage of our waterfront and we did have lots of problems with parties and fires,” said Coun. Jennifer McKelvie, (Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park), who supports Grimes’s motion for dealing with nuisance boaters.

While she is hopeful that the problems will subside as more facilities and opportunities for recreation reopen, she remains concerned about the safety of the growing number of people kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding.

“We just want to make sure that those people that aren’t in motorized craft are safe,” said McKelvie.

The number for reporting maritime incidents, including derelict boats is1-800-363-4735.