When Mary Reynolds began flying her camera-equipped drone over a small stretch of Vancouver Island’s coast, she landed in the middle of a fight between local activists and a company that dismantles old boats.
The 71-year-old’s videos, posted on his blog, showed Deep Water Recovery dismantling old boats and other vessels at its site in Union Bay, B.C., a violation, activists say, of regional and provincial regulations on zoning, which endangers. an environmentally sensitive area rich in oysters.
Locals are upset that Deep Water Recovery has continued to operate, despite the province’s cease and desist order. Deep Water and some of its people were, in turn, annoyed by Reynolds’ many overflights.
Once, she alleges in a civil lawsuit, a “volatile and out of control” man snatched her drone from the air and confronted her, yelling obscenities and calling her a troublemaker.
“I came back with a bang,” Reynolds told CBC News with a laugh.
“It’s just. It’s weird. It’s absolutely weird,” he said of the June 11 incident.
Mary Reynolds flew her drone over the shipwreck site for a friend, gathering footage of the operation. (Robert Kerr)
Reynolds says his drone was returned to his porch three days later, without a memory card.
In a counterclaim, company director Mark Jurisich denies Reynolds’ allegations, claiming he engaged in a “malicious campaign” of intrusion and harassment, trying to shut down his business.
These are just some of the accusations traded in recent years between the company and local activists who don’t want shipbreaking to continue in their backyard. It’s an industry known worldwide for having the potential to pollute coastlines with harmful substances like asbestos and PCBs and for which, experts warn, Canada needs to establish clear laws.
Legal experts say the dispute has exposed loopholes in Canadian shipbreaking legislation, which may end up being handled by regional governments. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)
The Concerned Citizens of Baynes Sound (CCOBS) has been lobbying against deepwater reclamation shortly after they saw the first vessels dismantled two years ago off the shores of nearby Baynes Sound, the channel that runs between Vancouver Island and the Denman Island.
“It’s an ecological area that needs protection,” said Ray Rewcastle, president of CCOBS.
“We are proud of our coasts, why would we allow this to happen?”
Local campaigner Ray Rewcastle says the coast near Union Bay is an “ecological area in need of protection”. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)
‘Mish-mash’ of jurisdictions
Environmental lawyer Carla Conkin says the CCOBS is fighting a “do-it-yourself” operation that is breaking up BC barges and ferries on the beach without a dry dock or other internationally accepted safety protocols for dismantling vessels to avoid pollution or escaped toxins.
Conkin says the site also disturbed a creek and there were concerns about workers living on the site in a trailer.
“These guys are flying by the seat of their pants on the beach, basically taking apart oversized boats,” he said.
“Nobody pays attention to what happens to ships when they die and have to be dealt with.”
Deep Water Recovery denies the allegations.
Neither Jurisich nor his lawyer agreed to interview requests from CBC News.
Old ships anchored in Union Bay at the deep water recovery site on May 10. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)
Jurissich he recently told The Tyee is playing a vital role in the marine recycling industry and has always followed the rules. He told the online magazine that Deep Water has dismantled 13 or 14 ships.
His lawyer, in that same article, pledged to “vigorously defend” the company.
Conkin says part of the problem in Union Bay is the complex “measuring” of the levels of government involved.
‘pretty slippery’
The site is overseen by the province, which manages the coastline, while the regional district oversees the upper part of the beach. The federal government, meanwhile, oversees ships, transportation and the environment.
Conkin says the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) is “ill-equipped” to deal with shipwreck issues, and after reviewing how the use of the site has changed, he says he believes the province was manipulated.
“It’s pretty slippery,” he said.
The ships are seen docked at Deep Water Recovery on August 15. (Submitted by Mary Reynolds)
Deep Water Recovery came when it took over a company called Union Bay Industries and its 30-year log recovery license.
But then the company turned to ship dismantling, requesting in 2019 that BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development allow the movement and storage of ships for repair and recycling.
Instead, provincial regulators worked with the company and wrote it a new license allowing the movement of boats along the coast so they can be dismantled at the higher end of the site, which is under the jurisdiction of the regional government. This company’s lease on the land expires in 2038.
Workers carry a rope to secure a decommissioned ship at Alang Shipyard in the western Indian state of Gujarat March 27, 2015. (Amit Dave/Reuters)
Deep Water “put itself in the shoes of this log sorting company and then moved to get lease amendments to allow shipbreaking,” Conkin said.
“The company has been capitalizing on the different levels of government and how they are not coordinating with each other.”
Canada has no federal ship destruction rules. The industry here is small but key in countries like Turkey, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which feed recycled steel back into their economies.
A worker uses a cutting torch to dismantle the hull of a barge at the Galloo ship recycling plant in Ghent, Europe’s largest ship recycling plant, in 2015. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)
Canadian owners used to ship their old boats overseas, but towing has become expensive and environmental regulations now limit some exports.
Transport Canada says national regulations are under consideration. But in the meantime, it also lists a total of 47,321 ships registered in Canada, including 3,054 large ships, over 100 gross tons, that will have to be scrapped at some point.
A March 2021 report commissioned by Transport Canada says Canada is well below the capacity needed to deal with ships reaching the end of their useful lives between 2021 and 2030.
The industry is high-risk and expensive: Deconstructing a passenger ferry can cost more than $2 million, says Wayne Elliott, founder of Marine Recycling Corp., Canada’s largest ship breaker.
His company operates a shipyard in Campbell River, BC, and is setting up a new site in Port Mellon.
He says he considered settling on the Union Bay site, but passed on it given the ecologically sensitive location and proximity to people’s homes.
A barge crashed into the Vancouver Seawall during the November 2021 storm and ran aground on Sunset Beach where it remains, a visible reminder of the need for more ship salvage and dismantling experts in Canada. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
“That made us decide it wasn’t worth going after,” Elliott said.
An international advocacy group says Canada should halt all shipbreaking that doesn’t involve drydocking to contain pollutants.
Belgium-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform says Deep Water Recovery’s plan to dismantle the NOAAS Miller Freeman, a former US research vessel, poses a danger as the vessel is filled with toxic paint and asbestos
The NGO’s Nicola Mulinaris says what’s happening in Union Bay is “truly shocking” and a good case for strengthening industry standards in Canada.
The province issued a cease and desist order on Feb. 17, requiring Deep Water to stop all shipbreaking activities. But that didn’t happen.
Likewise, the CVRD presented a civil claim on April 14 to stop the operation, alleging a violation of the zone.
But the company continued to dismantle ships.
This process is still ongoing in the courts.
On August 24, regional officials said they were seeking a permanent order to halt operations.
In its response to the demand, Jurisich alleges the region knew of the company’s intention to break up the vessel and only reversed the approval in “bad faith” for political reasons.
The Comox Valley Regional District declined to comment for this story. The K’ómoks First Nation, whose traditional territory Deep Water operates on, also declined to comment, but in an earlier statement said the site is “an environmental disaster waiting to happen.”
The environment ministry said in a statement that it is “continuing to investigate” concerns about pollution in Union Bay, but officials declined to be interviewed.
This Union Bay site on the east side of Vancouver Island, north of Denman Island, was a log-grading operation for 30 years. (Curt Petrovich/CBC)