MV Farley Mowatt owner ordered to pay damages for polluting Shelburne harbour

A federal court judge has ordered the owner of a derelict ship that sat for almost three years in the harbour at Shelburne, N.S., to pay more than $867,000 in damages.

The defendant in the case was Tracy Donald Dodds, a scrap dealer listed as the owner of MV Farley Mowatt. The 52-metre ship was once part of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The group used high-profile, vigilante-style tactics to stop hunters from killing seals, whales and other marine wildlife around the globe.

In 2015, the ship sank in its berth in Shelburne, and forced the coast guard to mount a $500,000 cleanup effort. More than 2,000 litres of pollutants were removed from the hull.

In 2017, the coast guard issued a contract to dispose of the ship, after years of trying in vain to get Dodds to remove it.

The coast guard then made a claim to the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund for repayment of costs. The fund, which was created by a federal act, allows claimants to file a claim against the owner of ships responsible for oil pollution damage.

The fund then took Dodds to court to recover the cost of repairing the vessel and preventing pollution damage to the harbour.

In the federal court decision released Tuesday, the judge notes that Dodds made a blanket denial in his statement of defence. During oral submissions, Dodds said he was not allowed access to the ship at the times in question because the ship was under seizure and he was not responsible for it.

“He says that the party who made the seizure was ‘responsible for the care and control of the boat,'” the decision notes.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He says that the party who made the seizure was 'responsible for the care and control of the boat,'" the decision notes.

Nonetheless, the judge ordered a payment of $839,863.02 in damages and $27,295.55 in pre-judgment interest, The money is payable to the administrator of the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund.

In a tweet, the fund said that MV Farley Mowatt has had the largest number of incidents for a single ship.