Gordon Cameron
Kingston Whig-Standard, Thursday December 30, 1999
A Private member's bill designed to preserve Ontario's heritage Shipwrecks and to promote dive tourism has come under fire from the Kingston diving community.
"It's a move to take away access to shipwrecks for the divers," said Nick Drakich of the Kingston Dive Centre, "and if you take away the access for the divers, then there's no tourism because the people can't come and dive the shipwrecks.
"If you take the divers away from the shipwrecks, there's no protection for the shipwrecks. The only people out there are going to be law-breakers."
The bill in question, Bill 13, was introduced after a court decision involving salvage rights to a wreck on Lake Erie, the SS Atlantic. A California- based company called Mar-Dive Corp. claimed to have revived a defunct salvage company that supposedly bought the salvage rights to the ship from the original owners. Mar-Dive planned to salvage artifacts, including the steamer trunks of passengers from the wreck. However, an Ontario court found that t he claim had no merit and ruled that all abandoned wrecks on Crown land are property of the province.
"This legislation is to clarify the decision of that Atlantic court case; to make it clear the shipwrecks on Crown land are property of the Ontario government," said the bill's author, Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP Toby Barrett.
Parts of the bill worry Brian Taylor, owner of Divercity, a Kingston charter company. A section of the bill prohibits entering a designated heritage wreck without an archeological licence, which excludes sport or recreational divers.
"We all the time enter wrecks," said Taylor. "Wreck diving... That's what it's all about."
COURT INTERPRETATION
Drakich adds, "Who knows what they consider a historical shipwreck? If it's any ship with artifacts, you can pretty much say most of the shipwrecks we take tourists to have artifacts."
Barrett said that such concern is unwarranted in most cases. "Most dive sites would be exempt from these restrictions, especially if they've been stripped clean, or if they're not an ancient hull."
However, on sites designated as heritage wrecks, recreational divers will only be able to observe them from the outside.
"In general, you don't need a licence to dive most sites," said Barrett. "You just need a licence to start ripping stuff off it. People can still dive these wrecks and observe them, they just can't go inside and take home souvenirs. That's simply all we're trying to do."
Taylor worries about how the law will be interpreted by the courts, especially the section that prohibits the removal of silt and the section that prohibits any action that alters or adversely affects a heritage wreck.
"If you take a purely archeological view," said Taylor, "bubbles inside a wreck, adding oxygen to the water environment is corrosive. Any archeologist will tell you this is detrimental to the wreck site."
Barrett said that his bill is not intended to fine divers for kicking up silt with their fins or to prevent divers from exploring Ontario's wrecks, "The real goal is just to make sure that these artifacts aren't, or the wrecks aren't, destroyed over time," he said.
Drakich defends the conservation efforts that his industry has undertaken.
WELL PRESERVED NOW
"We've done a better job of protecting the shipwrecks for tourism than any government in the world. No one has done a better job than we have.
"[The dive industry] has a greater incentive to protect [the wrecks] because they can bring tourists to come and see them," he said.
He further commented that all the work of local groups like Preserve Our Wrecks and Save Ontario Shipwrecks has been done with private money, at no cost to the taxpayer.
"Twenty years ago, you had pretty much every other diver taking things and causing damage to the shipwrecks. Today, I doubt you have one in a thousand divers that disrespects the shipwrecks. That's what we've achieved," said Drakich.
Taylor and Drakich are also upset because of a lack of widespread consultation with the diving community over the bill. Taylor said the only consultation Barrett had with divers was with the Port Dover chapter of Save Ontario Shipwrecks.
"They don't even have the full backing of all the [Save Ontario Shipwrecks] sanctioned groups," he said.
Drakich complains that "We weren't contacted, we weren't consulted, we weren't even notified."
Barrett said that now is the time for consultation, while his bill is still draft legislation. He has received many letters and e-mails suggesting changes to the bill and he said he plans to look quite seriously at them. "There's always things that have been missed or over- looked, but that's part of the process."
The bill has passed second reading and Barrett is waiting to see if it will be referred to a standing committee that would travel the province seeking further consultation on the bill before it is voted on after third reading.
Both sides agree on the importance of conservation, especially after thefts from Kingston shipwrecks which included the brass portholes from the Wolfe Islander II in 1994, and more recently, the brass plaque from the generator of the Munson.
"We have no problem with stiff fines for people who are hacking off steering wheels, taking port holes and that kind of thing. I despise this," said Taylor.
Tour operators are worried because taking divers to see these wrecks can hasten their deterioration.
"The main effect you're going to have is people handling things," said Drakich. "People dive on the old steamer and there's lots of valves and knobs on the machinery that look like you could turn and play with them ... The wrecks are fragile."
It is for that reason that Spencer Shoniker, who operates Suspence Charters, has decided to keep the location of the wreck of the tug Frontenac secret. He found the wreck in 1995, and in spite of very limited exposure to divers, the wreck is showing signs of deterioration.
"I'm torn, because I make some of my money by taking people out to dive on wrecks, but I also want to keep them in as good a condition as I can."
At least 17 dive charter boats operate out of Kingston.
"We have the best freshwater wreck sites in the world," Taylor boasts.
BILL 13
What: An Act to preserve Ontario's marine heritage and promote tourism by protecting heritage wrecks and artifacts
Definition of a heritage wreck: The abandoned remains of a vessel, aircraft or any other object submerged for a period of time in waters on Crown land in Ontario
Loophole: Wrecks can be exempted by the government
Prohibitions: No person can do certain activities unless authorized by an Ontario Heritage Act licence Such as: Entering a heritage wreck; removing silt or other naturally occurring.