Under the Pleasure Craft and Non-Pleasure Craft Sewage Pollution Prevention Regulations, Gorge Harbour has been a no-discharge-zone for boater sewage waste since June, 2000.
Under the terms of the CSSP (Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program), the presence of actual or potential pollution sources, which includes transient boats, warrants a preventive closure recommendation.
In 2012, Environment Canada made a preventive seasonal closure on the west end of the Gorge due to the presence of recreational boats; this was not a pollution event.
In early Dec 2024, there was an illness report on oysters shipped from a Gorge Harbour oyster farm to Vancouver. An illness report goes to Coastal Health, the BC Centre for Disease Control, the Canada Food Inspection Agency and back to the Federally Registered Shellfish Plant. Inspection and testing at the restaurant is done by Coastal Health. In this case, a Michelin star restaurant in Vancouver served only oysters from Gorge Harbour, ie., there were no other oysters involved.
Today, we have 55+ boats anchored out, some with people living in them. And more seasonally moored liveaboards will soon be moving into the harbour.
The federal government says cruise ships operating in Canadian waters have overwhelmingly met the more stringent wastewater guidelines put in this spring.
However, critics say Transport Canada’s report is very light on details and the industry’s largest source of water pollution remains untreated.
There are good reasons that boaters are not allowed to dump chemicals, sewage and other debris in Carrington Bay, Cortes Bay, Gorge Harbour, Squirrel Cove, or Manson’s Landing. “[Cortes Island] has the best oysters in the area, [possibly] because it is supposed to have such pristine clean water,” says Julia Rendall, President of the 13 member Bee Islets Growers Corporation. She explained that violations “could close us down and if we are closed down I think we have to have three tests, three weeks in a row, clear. So it could, in theory, close you down for about a month.” Cortes Island’s unique environmental features resulted in the creation of several marine parks. Contamination is a concern for all islanders, whether they are shellfish harvesters or not. These areas are currently designated as “No Discharge Zones” under federal regulations. Never-the-less, violations periodically do occur and a recent incident illustrates the difficulties of trying to stop recreational boaters from polluting Cortes Islands protected areas.
