The organization that manages the islands in the southern Strait of Georgia and Howe Sound has joined a growing list of opponents to five proposed freighter anchorages off Gabriola Island.
But West Coast port officials say additional ship anchorages are needed to handle the rapid rise in cargo being shipped through West Coast ports.
The Islands Trust, which the provincial government set up in 1974 to manage B.C.’s southern Gulf Islands, recently joined the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce in official opposition to the anchorages.
In 2011, the BC Chamber of Shipping along with the Pacific Pilotage Authority (PPA), BC Coast Pilots Ltd., the Port of Vancouver and the Port of Nanaimo struck a joint committee to review the anchorages in the southern Gulf Islands because of increased traffic. By 2014 Port of Vancouver congestion resulted in a record 170 freighters seeking anchorage in the southern Gulf Islands area.
The committee’s report outlined increased cargo resulting from record grain crops, higher coal demand, longshore labour contract disputes at west coast U.S. ports, a lack of railway rolling stock and severe winter weather.
Demand for deep-sea anchorages along B.C.’s coast has consequently risen sharply.
PPA president and CEO Kevin Obermeyer said that over the last five years the number of deep-sea vessels requiring anchorage off B.C.’s coast has doubled. The federal organization is spearheading the Gabriola plan along with Port of Nanaimo and the Port of Vancouver.
The committee’s Southern Gulf Islands anchorage review resulted in more vessels being anchored in English Bay to help spread the load out.
Obermeyer said he understands the resident opposition to the Gabriola Island anchorages, which includes complaints about potential obstructed views, container spills and noise created by the ship’s generators.
“I think there’s a lot of people with waterfront property who just don’t like the look of vessels,” said Obermeyer. “Some of us, like me, as an ex-sailor, I quite enjoy seeing ships, but I know that’s not what everybody likes, and we’ve taken that into consideration.”
But he added that with increased port traffic and bigger ships, good anchorages along the coast are at a premium.
“It’s either too deep or it’s not agood holing ground [poor seabed for anchorages] or it’s right next to a traffic lane.”
A Gabriola Chamber of Commerce position paper on the proposed anchorages released in April stated that “such anchorages are ill conceived and dangerous because they are exposed to gale force winds frequently, with resultant risk of marine accidents.”
It added that freighter anchor chains dragging on the seabed will destroy the marine ecosystem, disrupt recreational and commercial fishing and an Orca migration route. The paper also claimed that the island’s tourism would be “negatively affected by the visual light, sound and diesel smoke pollution from such anchorages.”
The depth of the five anchorages off Gabriola’s east coast will all be 50 metres, and four will be able to accommodate vessels up to 300 metres long.
At its June 15 meeting, the Islands Trust Council passed a motion to send a letter to the prime minister requesting a moratorium on any new freighter anchorages until Transport Canada has “… assessed the cumulative risk and impacts associated with projected vessel traffic increases in the Salish Sea, developed a 20-year mitigation plan that includes measures to minimize anchorage use and implemented a process for comprehensive environmental, social and economic impact assessment prior to the establishment of any new anchorages.”
Meanwhile, the PPA plans to hold an open house on the plan for residents and concerned citizens.
“What we’ve tried to do is move them as far away from the shoreline so there’s less impact on the people. I don’t want to ruin people’s lives but we’ve never had a ship off Gabriola, so I can’t say it’s going to be terribly noisy for them, I don’t know.”
Obermeyer added that he received a Department of Fisheries and Oceans report on June 28 but has not had time to review it with Transport Canada and the Canadian Shipbuilding and Industrial Marine Industry.
The PPA’s Suitability of Proposed Gabriola Anchorages briefing document stated that port and shipping risk assessment team members “are of the opinion that the exposure to risk levels are acceptable in the property, vessel, reputation and human categories.”
In July, the Gabriolans Against Freighter Anchorages Society wrote a letter to the minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Coast Guard and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans outlining its opposition to the proposed anchorages. The letter claimed the environmental assessment overview completed by Tetra Tech EBA, the consultant engaged by the PPA, was not sufficient and did not “accurately identify potential harm to fish and adjacent habitat, specifically to the forage fish forage/burying and spawning habitat.”
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