By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
Parks Canada has been conducting a consultation in recent months, getting public and stakeholder input on a proposal to increase boating restrictions in Big Tub Harbour. The shipwreck area is administered under Transport Canada’s Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations (VORRs). Parks has been Transport Canada’s Delegated Authority in Big Tub since 1987 but the overall authority remains with Transport Canada. Any changes Parks wishes to make must be ratified by Transport Canada. The changes currently being proposed involve substantially extending the Sweepstakes Restricted Area and also placing a 10 km/hr speed limit on the entire harbour and its approach.
A delegation from Parks Canada will be appearing at a Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula Council Meeting on Monday, Sept 13, while this newspaper is being printed. The accompanying map is from the documentation Parks filed with MNBP in arranging the delegation. (The full PowerPoint appears in the Agenda for the Sept 13 Council Meeting; it is available online.)
Council will be told that increasing numbers of small private motor vessels, including jet-skis, are causing congestion and safety hazards in the area around the wrecks of the Sweepstakes and City of Grand Rapids at the head of Big Tub Harbour.
Parks already has authority to keep private motor vessels out of the Sweepstakes Restricted Area, but the area is so small that it is very difficult to do. By the time a vessel is actually violating the area, enforcement is very difficult because of confined space and heavy traffic.
Parks proposes to extend the Restricted Area by approximately 200 metres, so that they can turn incoming vessels around before they become an obstruction to traffic.
Parks’ Power Point states that the enlarged Restricted Area has the support of the commercial tour and dive boat companies and the Big Tub Harbour Citizens’ Committee and that the extended 10 km/hr area is proposed at the suggestion of the citizens’ committee.
Other local stakeholders have expressed some concerns. People with docks inside the extended Restricted Zone wonder if they will be prevented from getting the full use of their dockage. Parks responds that local cottagers and their friends are not the problem and are not the target of these changes. They will be issued permits with a minimum of hassle and Parks resolves to work out a reasonable accommodation for their guests. The objective of these restrictions is to prevent day visitors from putting a private boat in at the boat launch and immediately zipping around to see the shipwrecks. Restricted Area permits will not be available to day visitors.
Helen McFarlane’s family cottage overlooks the wrecks. She has been watching Big Tub Harbour for decades. She wonders if kayaks and paddleboards aren’t a bigger problem than jet-skis. She suggests that “the safe operation of vessels within the restricted area would be enhanced by the creation of small watercraft corrals to which [canoes, kayaks and paddleboards] would be required to wait in while vessels are manoeuvring over the wrecks”.
MNBP Councillor Smokey Golden has a long history of resisting “overreach” by Parks Canada. She thinks a principle is involved here: “Parks Canada should not be controlling the use of docks in front of private property.” She lets that sink in. “Otherwise, where does this end?”
But there is another point she thinks is even more important. Will Parks Canada commit to staffing the Restricted Area? “You can’t have control without patrol,” she says. She also asks that Parks commit to staffing the outer harbour to enforce the speed limit. Furthermore, she says, a speed limit is hard to enforce. “No wake” is much easier to understand and easier to enforce. “Boaters understand NO WAKE.”
She also questions whether this qualifies as a “consultation”. It’s more like “they come and tell you what they’re gonna do…”
Councillor Golden will voice these concerns at the Sept 13 Council Meeting. There are also three letters from the public in the Sept 13 Meeting Agenda, from residents and cottagers concerned about the proposed regulations.
Parks may respond to these concerns at the Sept 13 Meeting; alternatively they may be addressed in time for the final submission to Transport Canada on Sept 28. Transport Canada will make a decision in time for implementation by May, 2022.
Further public input is invited until Sept 25.
