By Barb Brouwer
Shuswap Market News
Get rid of them, or the government will do it for you.
That is one of the messages the federal Department of Fisheries (DFO) and the province’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) want Shuswap and Mara lake waterfront property owners to take very seriously.
Work is underway to remove several old docks from three properties on Shuswap Lake – one at Jewel Bay Resort at the end of Grant Road in Sorrento, where 12 dock structures, some floating, some abandoned on the foreshore and and some sunken are being removed.
ILMB officials are removing the docks because resort owner Ralph Berazan, who was unavailable as of press time, had failed to do so himself.
Clint Zimmerman, ILMB regional compliance and enforcement specialist says the docks at Jewel Bay Resort came to his attention both through complaints made to the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line, and foreshore photos gathered by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District last summer as part of the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP).
“It was the impact at Grant Road that fuelled our response. It was fish habitat, the structures pose impediment to public access and there’s lost revenue due to the Crown because they were commercial structures,” says Zimmerman. “We have authority under the land act to take enforcement action to have docks removed.”
He says the owner of Jewel Bay Resort was given written notice to remove the docks and a deadline in which to complete the removal and that ILMB officials began the work when the owner failed to respond.
“Right now we are looking at this is administratively and will be seeking compensation through legal channels,” Zimmerman says, noting residents will either clean up the foreshore themselves or they will pay for the work to be accomplished. “We can also prosecute, and $20,000 and or 60 days imprisonment would be maximum penalty under the land act.”
Zimmerman says it is very important that people clearly understand that the foreshore belongs to the the Crown.
“There are places around that do have title, but it’s rare,” he says. Ninety-five-plus percent of the foreshore is Crown-owned and it’s important for people to understand that once we seize something, it’s government property. So residents who do not comply stand to lose the cost of the structure itself.
In an effort to recoup some of the costs, ILMB will recycle as much of the docks’ wood, metal and rubber components as possible.
Meanwhile, at nearby Henstridge Road, seven structures, mostly large portions of what were once docks are being removed by ILMB officials as will an old dock in Seymour Arm’s Dasniers Bay. That dock extends over a large vegetated area filled with sedges and grasses.
“When not floating it smothers vegetation and becomes a barrier to migrating fish and waves create large scoured areas,” says Michael Crowe, section head of DFO’s Habitat and Enhancement Branch in Kamloops. “It had been there for decades and is used by people, but nobody will take responsibility for it. It doesn’t meet our standards anymore and should be removed.”
From a fisheries perspective, the docks being removed this year are ones that are most harmful to fish and fish habitat, says Crowe, but officials are also aware of, and will be dealing with, other foreshore infractions – added fill, rocks gathered into piles, illegal retaining walls and boat ramps, etc.
Current dock removal projects are being funded by DFO and implemented by ILMB. It is an example of agencies working together as envisioned by SLIPP, the brainchild of Ian McGregor, Fish and Wildlife Science head in the Ministry of Environment’s Kamloops office.
“Ian McGregor has been amazing in finding funding and DFO has offered to pick up the initial cost of this one piece,” Crowe says. “CSRD has gone a long way to changing its role and regulation and with the new official community plans, hopefully there will be bylaws that provide clear rules regarding activities on the foreshore.”
Crowe says officials would like get the word out that government agencies are co-operating and taking steps to change people’s behaviours and understanding of how Shuswap and Mara lakes should be managed.
He says response was positive at public SLIPP meetings and mapping projects when foreshore issues were identified.
“With the frequency number and status of docks, it was generally agreed that they were not appropriate, they were unsustainable and it was agreed they should not be allowed to continue,” he says.
Anyone who has plans to construct a dock, or any other structure on the foreshore should first contact Front Counter B.C. to make sure they have the necessary tenure.
Meanwhile, CSRD planner Marchin Pachinski is also pleased with the inter-agency co-operation imbued in SLIPP.
“There is a better understanding of each agency’s roles, more co-operation and, in turn, more willingness to act,” he says. “I think the (SLIPP and foreshore mapping) projects made us realize the extent of the issues on Shuswap Lake. There’s a greater awareness in the public that the expectation that things will go on as they have in past decades is simply not the case.
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