Residents of B.C.’s Southern Gulf Islands say no one is taking responsibility for an abandoned float home that has capsized just off of Valdes Island.
On Sunday the vessel capsized just off the east coast of the island and was cut loose.
The float home was being towed through Porlier Pass when it hit rough waters, according to Islands Trust Council Chair Peter Luckham.
“There’s pretty big swells and waves that are turned up in there because of the current,” he said.
“It started to founder and ultimately rolled over and now was let loose and then ended up on the beach on Valdes Island.”
Luckham said it appeared the owner left shortly after the incident, returned briefly Monday morning, and hasn’t been seen since.
He said locals are concerned that a storm expected to hit the environmentally-sensitive area Wednesday will damage the abandoned boat and litter the coast with debris.
“The people that live on Valdes Island and anybody that’s concerned about the southern coast here is worried what’s going to happen with that when the storm that is predicted for tomorrow comes in and beats it into toothpicks onto the beach with metal and glass and whatever other debris happens to be on that float home,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate because that’s the conservancy area for rockfish.”
Transport Canada said it is aware of the floating home and is making arrangements to have it removed as an obstruction under the authority of the Canadian Navigable Waters Act.
Luckham said the council has motion at the annual Union Of B.C. Municipalities convention to ask for a strategy to manage live-aboard vessels such as float homes.
He said the abandoned vessel near Valdes Island highlights how float homes that are not properly maintained can be a “hazard both to the environment and the people who live on them.”