Coastal Response

The inability to see one another until seconds before impact is to blame for a float plane collision with an Ahousaht water taxi on Oct. 18, 2021, according to a Transportation Safety Board of Canada report released March 30.

The accident occurred in the busy Tofino Harbour in the autumn afternoon over a year ago, when a Tofino Air float plane, a de Havilland DHC-2 MK (Beaver), was coming in for a landing as an Ahousaht-based water taxi, the Rocky Pass, was also heading toward the First Street Dock.

A transportation Safety Board investigation is pointing to the combination of dense fog, instrument failure and fatigue from an overworked operator as factors that could have led a water taxi to crash into a rock during a routine trip from Tofino to Ahousaht.

The federal agency released its report today, with details leading up to the crash involving the Rocky Pass in early 2022. Four of the five people aboard the water taxi were seriously injured when it hit a rock in a shallow area between Tofino and Ahousaht on Jan. 25, 2022, including skipper Chris Frank.  

Nearly a year after the Zim Kingston lost over 100 shipping containers at sea west of Vancouver Island, a House of Commons committee has concluded that Canada is ill-prepared to deal with marine cargo accidents.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the next phase of Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan on July 19. It comes with a commitment to add $2 billion over nine years.

This builds on the $1.5 billion that’s been directed towards the program, which was launched in 2016.

Established to strengthen the protection of Canada’s coasts and wildlife, the Oceans Protection Plan is being labelled as a “Canadian success story” by the prime minister’s office (PMO).

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) responded to a report on the morning of July 11 that a 34-foot gillnetter got caught on rocks as the tide was receding, causing it to sink. 

The vessel, which was actively fishing, had 500 litres of diesel fuel onboard, which is slowly leaking into the marine environment.

The Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) was mobilized to work alongside the CCG to respond to the incident near Hocking Point in the Alberni Inlet. 

A 34-foot gillnetter sank in the early morning on July 11 near Nahmint Bay, with around 500 litres of diesel fuel onboard.

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) received a report around 3:15 a.m. that the vessel, which was actively fishing, got caught on rocks as the tide was receding. The resulting impact caused the vessel to lean and sink.

The Coastal Restoration Society (CRS) is looking to train and hire at least 12 individuals for coastal remediation activities in Barkley Sound and Clayoquot Sound.

The CRS Coastal Restoration society is an organization that supports resource management and environmental stewardship goals of First Nations, as well as provincial and federal governments. Their services include marine-industrial project development and implementation, scientific monitoring and assessment, aquatic invasive species management and control, and climate change mitigation in the marine environment.

Award-winning Indigenous producer and director Steve Sxwithhul’txw was in Ahousaht during the first week of May shooting a new documentary focussing on the life-saving work of four Vancouver Island First Nations as Canadian Coast Guard auxiliaries.

According to IMDb, Sxwithhul’txw (Swee-thult) is a former police officer and member of the Penelakut First Nation. He went back to school to study broadcast journalism and launched Kwassen Productions. He told Ha-Shilth-Sa that he also has roots in Snuneymuxw and Cowichan Nations.

Over 100 shipping containers have been missing off the west coast of Vancouver Island since they fell off the Zim Kingston in late October, but in the coming weeks the ship’s owner plans to conduct a sonar scan to locate any of the wreckage remaining on the ocean floor.

A water taxi carrying six people hit a reef in waters between Tofino and Ahousaht Tuesday morning, injuring four of the six people aboard.

Environment Canada issued a fog warning for areas all around Vancouver Island on the morning of Jan. 24.

“Areas of dense fog are expected to lift by this afternoon. Visibility may be significantly and suddenly reduced to near zero,” they said in their public statement.