Debris from cargo ship spill last fall spreading along B.C. coast: beach cleaners

A volunteer organization that has been cleaning up debris from a cargo ship that lost 109 containers off the B.C. coast last fall says the incident should be a wake-up call to the need for more urgent action.

Alys Hoyland of the Surfrider Foundation's Pacific Rim chapter in Tofino said urinal mats, coolers and other cargo that was swept off the MV Zim Kingston in October continue to wash up on the western shore of Vancouver Island.

Debris has been found as far away as northeastern Haida Gwaii, hundreds of kilometres from the spill site, and Hoyland said she is concerned that the longer it takes to clean up, the more material will degrade and spread along the coast.

Beach cleaners still find hockey equipment from a container that went overboard in the 1990s, she said, and the organization expects similar long-lasting consequences from this incident.

"This is going to be a slow-moving disaster for the coastline for many years to come," Hoyland said.

The containers were lost from the Zim Kingston during a storm near the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait around the same time a fire broke out on the vessel on Oct. 22.

Four containers carrying fridges and running shoes washed ashore on northern Vancouver Island in November but 105 containers have still not been recovered, the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement. It confirmed reports of debris on Haida Gwaii and said the vessel owner is doing beach surveys.

A sonar scan of the area where the containers went overboard and environmental risk assessment have not been done, but planning is underway, the coast guard said.

"The vessel owner has hired a contractor to do the scan but they need to wait for an appropriate weather window to complete the work," it said.