Feds wash hands of abandoned, burned out tug in Sooke Harbour

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea may say protection of the marine environment is one of her top priorities but you wouldn’t know it from the letter received by Mayor Janet Evans.

Evans had been in correspondence with Shea regarding the Florence Filberg, the derelict tug abandoned by Capt. Ron Cook in Sooke Harbour.

The vessel was subsequently burned to the waterline by arsonists and to this day is a black charred hulk still aground in the same place in the harbour.

The vessel was apparently surveyed by Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) personnel to determine if it was considered a pollution threat both before and after the fire.

Evans said the federal Ministry Fisheries and Oceans has essentially wiped their hands clean of the issue and the tug stating in a letter to Evans, “Action to remedy a particular situation may only be taken by CCG when a vessel poses a pollution threat, or by Transport Canada if the vessel becomes a hazard to navigation, which the owner is unable or unwilling to address. Since the Florence Filberg is no longer considered a pollution threat, CCG does not have the legal authority to remove this vessel from Sooke Harbour.”

Mayor Evans said that if the CCG were to deal with the vessel it would open up a whole can of worms because if they removed the tug in our harbour they would have to do it for everybody.

“There are boats all over the place,” said Evans.

Shea said she understood the concerns surrounding the growing number of derelict and abandoned vessels lying in this and other areas of the West Coast.

The Florence Filberg arrived in Sooke Harbour in November 2007. At the time Capt. Ron Cook said he was the owner and it was not abandoned but was to be refurbished and re-floated.

Court records state that In November 2002, Cooke was extradited to the United States and convicted of three counts under the Ocean Dumping Act and the Act of Prevent Pollution from Ships when he dumped hundreds of bags of asbestos into the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The asbestos was renovation debris from a ship that was to be transformed into a river boat gambling casino. Cook was sentenced to 24 month incarceration and three years supervised release.