Vessel that sank off B.C. coast had been impounded last year for illegal fishing, former owner says

Tim Milne says he he sold his 30-foot KingFisher aluminum vessel called Big Coast, pictured here, to new owners four years ago. Ten people were aboard the charter boat that sank near Roberts Bank on Sunday. Six are presumed drowned. Photo by Tim Milne

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The charter vessel that sank in the Strait of Georgia over the weekend — leaving four survivors and six people presumed drowned — was impounded last summer by federal authorities, according to the boat’s former owner.

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Tim Milne, who hosts and produces a television series documenting West Coast boating and fishing life, told Postmedia Thursday that he sold his 30-foot KingFisher aluminum vessel — called “Big Coast” — to new owners four years ago.

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Last summer, he learned the vessel had been impounded because it was caught fishing in a protected zone off Pender Island.

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“Transport Canada contacted me last July and they’d found that Big Coast boat fishing in an illegal fishing area off Pender Island,” he recalled. “So they immediately thought it was me.”

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He said there had been ongoing frustration and confusion because the new owners had not registered the boat’s automatic identification system — a system that transmits a boat’s information, including its location and speed — under a new vessel name or handle.

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They were “incredibly difficult to contact,” Milne said, adding that he even went so far as to ask his friends in Steveston to leave notes on the boat for the owner.

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That’s why Milne took to social media this week to clarify that he had no involvement in Sunday’s tragedy.

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“Repeated efforts to have new owners change AIS handle went nowhere and have led to confusion, especially given this tragic outcome off the South Coast,” he wrote.

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To date, federal authorities have not identified the name of the owner/operators of the sunken vessel.

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Officials with Transport Canada were unable Thursday to confirm any previous infractions involving the vessel in question.

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Milne said he’d operated the B.C.-built vessel for four years up and down the coast and that when it was sold it was “absolutely immaculate.” He said the tragedy “should never have happened” and that the vessel was “perfectly capable of handling the West Coast water.”

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“It’s a 30-foot boat with 9.5-foot beam, welded aluminium. … It’s capable of handling all sorts of weather and conditions. But again, every boat has its margin, and it seems like these guys might have found what it was,” he said.

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“I mean, I was a little bit shocked. At the same time, not entirely because of the incident with these guys last year. … I don’t believe these guys were the most experienced.”

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The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Thursday in a statement that its investigation is still in the early stages.

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“Over the next few days, TSB investigators will be conducting interviews and collecting information to better understand the circumstances surrounding the sinking,” the agency said.