'They're dropping the ball': Feds under fire as Zim Kingston debris cleanup begins on Vancouver Island

Vancouver -

A combination of professional and grassroots cleanup is underway on a previously pristine beach on northern Vancouver Island now littered with shattered debris that spilled from a shipping container, as local political leaders seek the minister responsible.

The Canadian Coast Guard says shoreline cleanup has begun in the Cape Scott area, with crews hired by the MV Zim Kingston’s owners collecting dozens of bags of Styrofoam and moving 40 refrigerators inland, beyond the reach of ocean waves. 

And, though the agency says it isn’t looking for volunteers to collect debris, not-for-profit groups and individuals have been rolling up their sleeves throughout the weekend to collect waterlogged objects ranging from consumer goods and clothing to appliances and automotive accessories.

"To see people coming up from Campbell River and Courtenay and out from Port Hardy and Port McMeil just trying to pick up every little bit of Styrofoam off the beach before it shreds apart was just phenomenal," said Jill Laviolette, co-founder of the non-profit shoreline cleanup group Epic Exeo.

“Seeing the amount of plastic toys washed up on a pristine west coast beach, it's kind of numbing."

The work is underway as the island’s New Democrat members of Parliament say they’ve had no word from the newly announced Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Vancouver-Quadra’s Joyce Murray. 

"There was no fisheries minister when the incident took place because the prime minister delayed implementing his cabinet decisions for over a month,” said federal NDP deputy critic for fisheries and Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns.

“Finally, we have a minister and we can't get a hold of her. We have a rudderless ship." 

CALLS FOR MORE FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

Ocean waters are under federal jurisdiction, and Johns hammered the Trudeau government for leaving so much up to Danaos, the shipping company that’s responsible for the Zim Kingston.

“They completely got it backwards,” Johns said. “They should be implementing a technical response team right away when incidents like this take place. Then they can get the company that failed to protect their cargo and hold them to account. We should be deploying all resources as these containers are floating on the ocean openly and they're arriving on our shores and breaking apart, and if they're sinking that means they'll arrive on our shores in weeks and years to come."

Four containers from the trans-Pacific ship floated up the west coast of Vancouver Island to the remote northwest beaches along Cape Palmsterson, with one breached and spilling its material along the shoreline, where much of it was battered to bits by strong ocean waves.

On Friday, the Living Oceans Society warned supporters and the public to avoid the area as experts conducted assessments and made plans, writing: “At this time, additional people on the beaches represent only another hazard to be managed."

That didn’t stop well-meaning volunteers and lookie-loos from visiting anyway.

There is a sense or urgency to do the painstaking work of collecting every scrap of pulverized Styrofoam from packaging materials and brightly coloured plastics, which are already being eaten by birds and other creatures.

"Some of that stuff is small enough that other marine life will ingest it,” said Living Oceans Society executive director Karen Wristen.

“It blocks the digestive tract and makes them think they're full when they're not so they don't feed properly. It can impair survival."

MISSING CONTAINERS

It was the consumer goods that attracted some people, who walked away with rain boots, toys and other items that remained intact despite the fire that struck the vessel and the powerful storm that sent a reported 109 containers into the Pacific Ocean.

The coast guard is still looking for the rest of the containers and asking the public to report any sightings.

Laviolette suggested that those wishing to help clean up debris will have plenty of opportunity to do so in the coming months – and likely longer.

"This is a disaster,” she said. “There isn't any one group (that) is going to be able to take care of this. This is going to be everyone trying for years to come and fix this problem.”