‘Nobody is in charge’: Derelict boats in False Creek a growing problem, residents say [Video]

Stephen Paetkau, the owner of Vancouver’s Skookum Yacht Service, a local salvage and boat repair service, says diving for dead boats is complicated and time-consuming. It’s also becoming more frequent.

“I think we just finished boats no. 78 and 79 since March of ’21 … It’s a lot for the False Creek Basin and for Granville Island and certainly for our shop,” he told CBC News. 

On a mid-January day, Paetkau and colleagues removed a sailboat from that had been stuck for days under a boat ramp at Vanier Park. One of his divers said there was a gaping hole where the keel used to be, and the rudder was bent sideways. 

One advocate says derelict vessels and boats without the proper permits are a growing problem on False Creek, and a hodgepodge of government agencies responsible for the body of water in the heart of the city aren’t enforcing …