Coast Guard demolishes abandoned fishing boat in Blacks Harbour

The Canadian Coast Guard has removed and destroyed a 15-metrefishing vessel left abandoned for years at a wharf in Blacks Harbour.

On the verge of sinking several times, the Fundy Star IIIhad beendeemed an environmental hazard.

The former scallop and lobster boat,which is registered inDigby, N.S.,had been tied up at the wharf for an estimated three to four years.

"We have gone down and pumped water off it on numerous occasions," said Tom Wilkinson, a response officer with the Coast Guard.

We wanted it gone.- Tom Wilkinson, Canadian Coast Guard

"The decision was made that we're going to get rid of this vessel. It's a hazard, possible pollution threat with nobody looking after it. We wanted it gone."

After repeated attempts to reach an owner none has been identified the wood and fibreglass vessel was towed Wednesday to Beaver Harbour where equipment and fuel were removed.

It was then crushed, placed in a dumpster and hauled away for disposal.

"It's gone," said a relieved Nelson MacKenzie, wharfinger for Blacks Harbour. "I just wanted it away from the wharf so it didn't sink on my watch."

MacKenzie says the vessel would have done a lot of damage had it slipped beneath the surface.

"Anything like that that sinks, it's an environmental hazard," he said. "You've got oil and fuel, hydraulic fuel, all in the water. And it causes, well you know what an oil spill is like, only on a smaller scale. It's not a good thing."

A Coast Guard spokesperson says expenses to remove the vessel will be recovered under the Ship Source Pollution Fund, but there will be attempts to recover those costs if an owner can be identified.

No cost estimate was immediately available.