On Friday, March 28th, the Oak Bay Police, in cooperation and coordination with the Transport Canada Navigable Waters Protection Program and the RCMP Marine Section, will be addressing the long-time issue of marine vessels moored illegally in Oak Bay adjacent to the Oak Bay Marina.
This Transport Canada initiative was spearheaded by Constable Mike Martin of the Oak Bay Police with the assistance and expertise of Corporal Lawrence Jacobs of the RCMP Marine Section and occurred over an 8 month period.
The project is focused on illegal mooring buoys under the Private Buoy Regulations as specified in the Canada Shipping Act (2001). Agents from Transport Canada’s Navigable Waters Protection Program (NWPP) will be removing any jetsam and the remaining non-compliant buoys and some derelict vessels from the bay on Friday.
To ensure all vessel owners were fairly warned and to ensure maximum compliance, Constable Martin and Corporal Jacobs first photographed and geo-referenced all the vessels in the bay. Verbal notice was given to the owners that this initiative was underway. In January, Constable Martin and Transport Canada officials notified every vessel by attaching notices to the vessels and/or mooring buoys in the bay. Last month, vessels that had been advised in writing were checked again and violation tickets were issued to those still not in compliance.
The objective has always been compliance, rather than enforcement, which is considered to be a last resort. Of several dozen vessels and owners originally dealt with by way of warnings, there are approximately 10 buoys and boats that are still not compliant. These will be dealt with by Transport Canada during Friday’s follow-up inspection, as the Oak Bay Police and RCMP Marine Unit standby to assist.
