The early morning rescue of a pleasure craft in mid-February was just another example of stewardship of Cowichan Bay, says Pacific Industrial Marine (PIM).
While leaving Cowichan Bay on a chilly Friday at 6.45 am, employees from Pacific Industrial Marine (PIM) sprung into action to lend a hand to the Canadian Coast Guard.
PIM’s expertise and capacity to manage the containment and removal of abandoned vessels was enough to avert the sinking of a pleasure craft in Cowichan Bay. The swift response helped avert the release of hazardous contaminants into a sensitive ecosystem.
Equipped with a crane and emergency response materials, PIM was able to tow the boat to safety and hoist it out of the water and place it safely on shore.
“While conducting our businesses at the terminal we consider ourselves to be stewards of the bay, and will continue to respond to this problem of abandoned vessels and will come to the aid of mariners in distress whenever we can,” said Brian Thacker, owner of PIM.
Thacker adds PIM is no stranger to the complexities of removing abandoned vessels. In 2017, a co-ordinated effort by Pacific Industrial Marine, Western Stevedoring and Western Forest Products allocated roughly $50,000 to successfully remove seven abandoned vessels from Cowichan Bay.
Without financial help from the Federal or other levels of government, businesses operating on the Cowichan Bay Terminal took action at their own cost to remove the vessels grounded in the estuary. This action has avoided further damage to the estuary by removing possible sources of future contamination that may have occurred due to escape of fuel or other materials from the derelict vessels.
In recent correspondence from the Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations, the BC Government expressed the view that “Local businesses that undertake these actions instill confidence that Cowichan Bay Terminal is in safe hands and that the operators act appropriately with regards to management of the Cowichan Terminal site.”