spoil grounds nanaimo

chevyshaulass

chevyshaulass

Well-Known Member
I know this offshore area in 1000 feet of water is a dumping ground , but exactly what do they dump out there other than scrap metal? took a few of these the other day, they are dumping what looks to be top soil, I was almost a mile away so couldn't really tell for sure. and if it was top soil what could be so wrong with it that they need to dispose of it out there?

cant get the photo uploader to work but anyway it was a tug and barge, barge was loaded with top soil or some other dark colored aggregate, cruising around in circles dumping it with an excavator. the conspiracy theorist in me tells me it was contaminated soil but without knowing the facts I don't like to jumo to conclusions.
 
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didn't they dump a bunch of waste from harmac out there a few years ago too? probably the worst though would be all the batteries and **** the lighthouses dumped because we didn't know any betteror care as much as now.
 
chevyshaulass said:
I know this offshore area in 1000 feet of water is a dumping ground , but exactly what do they dump out there other than scrap metal? took a few of these the other day, they are dumping what looks to be top soil, I was almost a mile away so couldn't really tell for sure. and if it was top soil what could be so wrong with it that they need to dispose of it out there?

cant get the photo uploader to work but anyway it was a tug and barge, barge was loaded with top soil or some other dark colored aggregate, cruising around in circles dumping it with an excavator. the conspiracy theorist in me tells me it was contaminated soil but without knowing the facts I don't like to jumo to conclusions.
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Nothing surprises me anymore..The ministry of environment is dumping contaminated soil it my family's drinking water so why wouldn't ocean be the same... Call it in I would be curious to here what they are doing?
 
Looks like asphalt. I love how a picture from an estimated mile distant get everyone rilled up. For all we know it could be dredging,put on board instead of dumping...I know the post said it was off shore in deep water,I'm not branding the poster a fiber,but c'mon I could be a stunning blonde:cool:
 
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I thought this as well, when it was coming out of the bucket it looked to be a fairly 'fine' material, looked fairly light, hard to say though I was zoomed in 100x on that pic you could be right.
 
So hard to tell eh ? Must be a manifest available. Should be able sleuth this out,maybe one of those limber fingered users shall devote an evening to the task.
 
lol if anyone wants to play detective this was at about 11am on Tuesday. heres the shot of the tow.
 

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I've seen that same tug and barge heading in empty towards duke point/dodds narrows way a few times over the last couple weeks. Must be dumping a lot of material out there! Wonder why they can't keep it on land somewhere?
 
steelmadness said:
Looks like asphalt. I love how a picture from an estimated mile distant get everyone rilled up. For all we know it could be dredging,put on board instead of dumping...I know the post said it was off shore in deep water,I'm not branding the poster a fiber,but c'mon I could be a stunning blonde:cool:
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maybe it was the pomrenkes dredging gold in 1050 feet of water. really it could be anything. like you said could be dredged material that was loaded onto this barge for relocation, perhaps material from the harbor somewhere? that would make sense although like I was saying, the material they were dumping looked fine and light, not consistent with muck from the bottom of the harbor.
 
Haha... Hold on a minute here guys. I've been involved in a similar spoil grounds job that would have looked the exact same as this. I did it off of Cape Mudge in that spoil ground. What were we dumping? All the dredged material from inside heriot bay. I would assume this is something similar.

Comtaminated soil sometimes travels by water, but it never ends up in the spoil grounds. That being said I think within the past 50 years we used to push full garbage loads off barges on the BC coast.
 
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dougthefisher said:
probably the worst though would be all the batteries and **** the lighthouses dumped because we didn't know any betteror care as much as now.
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This battery thing you mention is mind boggling. I've been told the coast guard is now about to go clean up the years and years of their battery dumping from all the lights. Imagine the cost of diving down at each place and retrieving the batteries or what's left of them. How many blinking lights are their on this coast that have batteries......:eek:
 
hambone said:
Haha... Hold on a minute here guys. I've been involved in a similar spoil grounds job that would have looked the exact same as this. I did it off of Cape Mudge in that spoil ground. What were we dumping? All the dredged material from inside heriot bay. I would assume this is something similar.

Comtaminated soil sometimes travels by water, but it never ends up in the spoil grounds. That being said I think within the past 50 years we used to push full garbage loads off barges on the BC coast.
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yeah this makes the most sense for sure thanks.
 
well - could be anything - but the barge had to get loaded soil from some dump trucks from some company from somewhere. Where is the barge being loaded, and what trucks are coming from where? If it is dredge material - there should be a dredge there. If not - then it is trucks. I can't understand why anyone would dump good topsoil given the market for it. If it is dredge material - most often it is dredged for the purpose of keeping a navigation channel open to a port. Often, high levels of either/or PCBs, PAHs, heavy metals and other contaminants are prevalent in marine sediments in ports from industrial activities. If it is asphalt - it would definitely be high in PAHs and other petrochemical constituents.

In any event - they need permits to dump from EC. There has to be a paper trail somewhere.

Strangely - I didn't see anything in the current NOTSHIPs:
http://www.vtos.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/notship/ntsactive.htm

They are supposed to advertise their actions there - IF - they are bone fide. The name of the tug wouldn't hurt. One can phone-up their company and ask that way.

Also - one can phone DFO C&P and/or EC C&P and report it and let them look into it:

DFO: Observe, Record, Report (ORR) Line - 1-800-465-4336
Province: Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) - 1-877-952-7277
Fisheries Protection Program: 1-866-845-6776 or enquiriespacific@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Regional Director, Environmental Enforcement Directorate
Pacific and Yukon Region
Environment Canada
201-401 Burrard Street, 4th floor
Vancouver BC V6C 3S5
Fax: 604-666-9059
1-800-663-3456
 
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Does not need a dredge near the spoils dump site. Could be from any of the harbors or channels around the area.
 
Agentaqua, they would be participating on VTS Ch.11, every commercial vessel in the area would know what they are doing. Do you really think they are up to no good in broad daylight? Really?

Do your investigating if you want. I really don't think anyone is hiding anything.
 
Theres a dredge sitting in departure bay beside the ferry terminal. Also in the past the have posted when and where they are dumping material in the local papers; typically weeks before they off load in the strait. There are certain times of year they do this off Nanaimo and it is usually dredgings from the estuary or from somewhere else along the strait. I am sure if you call fisheries and ask they will tell you as they would be involved with issuing the permit.
 
hambone said:
Agentaqua, they would be participating on VTS Ch.11, every commercial vessel in the area would know what they are doing. Do you really think they are up to no good in broad daylight? Really? Do your investigating if you want. I really don't think anyone is hiding anything.
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"hiding"? "no good"?

Well Hambone - I certainly can't speak for any "intent" of anyone.

However, certain legislated procedures are apparently not being followed.

All current, "approved" "Disposal at Sea" permits are published at: http://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/eng/permits/disposalatsea.cfm

If you look through that list you will see some lower mainland sites have been approved; and nothing there in Nanaimo.

In addition - all of the "approved" dump sites for these are "Disposal site(s): Point Grey Disposal Site, within a 1-nautical-mile radius of 49.25666° N, 123.36500° W (NAD83).".
 
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