Canada's government announced new plans to improve marine safety amid the second barge casualty in a month along the coast of British Columbia.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will spend CAD 1.5bn ($1.1bn) over five years on a national Oceans Protection Plan. The plan includes creating a "world-leading" marine safety system by addressing a variety of issues from better navigational tools for ships in Canadian waters, creating better oil spill and emergency response procedures, and ridding Canadian waters of stranded vessels and wrecks.
The plan "will make Canada a world-leader in marine safety and takes a powerful step toward co-management of our coasts with Indigenous and coastal communities, together making sure they remain healthy, clean, and safe for generations to come,” Trudeau said in a statement.
Included in the plan are a new maritime rescue centre in St. John's, Newfoundland, plans to improve hydrography and charting to aid mariners, new rescue stations and towing capacity for the Canadian Coast Guard, new research into how shipping affects marine ecosystems, and new funding for oil spill response methods.
Trudeau says new legislation will also be introduced to prohibit vessel abandonment in Canadian waters.
The announcement comes a day after Trudeau and Transport Canada Minister Marc Garneau visited the site of a diesel spill off of Bella Bella, British Columbia. The Kirby-owned, 2,600-bhp Nathan E. Stewart (built 2001) ran aground 14 October and spilled 110,000 litres of diesel fuel.
Another accident occurred Sunday evening when a barge carrying gravel and sand capsized in foul weather.
The announcement did not include a ban on crude tanker traffic along the British Columbia Coast. Trudeau's government has pledged a formal ban on such traffic after years of a more informal moratorium limiting tanker transits in the region.
