A fishing boat that allegedly moored at Steveston Harbour without permission is being sued after staying there for more than a year.
According to a lawsuit filed by the Steveston Harbour Authority at the B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria on Nov. 30, Stellar 1 is allegedly trespassing on the harbour and causing a nuisance by taking up space that should be available for "active commercial fishing vessels."
Its authorized representative and one of its owners, David Vincent Jennings, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The harbour authority claims in its notice of civil claim that Jennings contacted it "several times" in October 2022 to ask to moor Stellar 1, a steel fishing vessel not actively engaged in commercial fishing, at the harbour.
Despite being told there was no room, the harbour authority claim Jennings moored Stellar 1 in the harbour anyway in December "in an unsafe manner alongside a much smaller vessel."
After seeing the "unsafe moorage conditions created by (Jennings)," the harbour authority temporarily authorized Stellar 1 to move to the loading zone for no more than two weeks.
The harbour authority claimed it never had a written contract for moorage with Jennings and Stellar 1.
However, after Stellar 1 moved to the loading zone, the harbour authority said it began performing repairs that Jennings either knew or ought to have known "would take much longer than two weeks to complete" despite agreeing to move out by the end of December 2022.
The harbour authority claims the ship now "does not have operating propulsion systems and is now unable to navigate under its own power almost one year since arrival."
As of the date of the lawsuit, Stellar 1 hadn't moved and continued to "block access to the loading zone" despite repeated requests to move, said the harbour authority.
It added the ship, to its knowledge, is not insured and is "in unseaworthy condition and is deteriorating without any reasonable regard to the state of the ship by (Jennings)."
"(Stellar 1 is) in a hazardous condition and (poses) a risk to the surrounding marine environment, namely the Fraser River estuary," reads Steveston Harbour Authority's statement of claim.
In addition to allegedly trespassing and causing a nuisance by taking up space that should be available for active commercial fishing vessels, the harbour authority claims Stellar 1 is unjustly enriched by using the harbour and depriving the harbour authority of the use of its property.
It seeks an order for a permanent injunction against Stellar 1 and Jennings' other personal property's continued presence in the harbour and a judgment against them for trespassing, nuisance, unjust enrichment and unpaid moorage and storage fees, among other things.
This is not the first boat being ousted by the Steveston Harbour Authority, which also filed lawsuits last year to remove an "unseaworthy" fishing ship that caught on fire and a "deteriorating" heritage tugboat.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Got an opinion on this story or any others in Richmond? Send us a letter or email your thoughts or story tips to [email protected].
