Ship recycling receives support

The federal government is about to enact legislation demanding ship breaking operations be environmentally and socially responsible, at the request of Courtenay – Alberni MP Gord Johns.

With the Comox Valley Regional District filing a lawsuit against Deep Water Recovery at Union Bay, Johns said Canada needs better ship recycling guidelines and support for future ship recycling ventures.

“I’m asking the Prime Minister right now to include ship recycling in the national ship building strategy, which will release hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure so that we can do this in a responsible way and in the right way, but also do it quickly because these vessels pose an immediate threat to our coast and our environment and our economy,” he said.

Johns said there are currently 900 vessels on the west coast in line for deconstruction, and 90 of those are more than 500 tonnes, which require special facilities.