Shelburne mayor hopes MP's bill helps get Farley Mowat moved

The mayor of Shelburne hopes that a private member's bill being introduced by the local MP will help her community get rid of the Farley Mowat that's been languishing wharfside for nearly two years. 

In September 2014, scrap dealer Tracy Dodds abandoned the Farley Mowat at the Shelburne wharf. Since December he's missed three court-ordered deadlines to remove it. 

Shelburne Mayor Karen Mattatall told CBC's Maritime Noon on Wednesday the vessel is a rusted out eyesore that the people of the southwestern Nova Scotia town are sick of looking at. 

Farley Mowat taking up valuable wharf space

"Number one … it certainly is not attractive to have sitting in our beautiful harbour," she said. 

"But, more than that, it has been a large piece of our wharf that wasn't available to people who would want to come and use our wharf, people who would want to work at our wharf and we're losing a substantial amount of money by not being able to have that space available to lease to people who would like to use it." 

Private member's bill on derelict vessels 

Mattatall said the private member's bill MP Bernadette Jordan plans to introduce to the House of Commons could help Shelburne and other towns where ships have been abandoned.

Jordan is presenting a bill to Parliament on June 3 that would call on the federal government to help remove abandoned vessels which harm the economy of communities. 

The bill would also prohibit owners from abandoning vessels and include education for vessel owners regarding responsible ownership.

"Abandoned and derelict vessels create an economic burden on communities, and limit the potential of our waterways and harbours," Jordan said on her Facebook Page.

"There will be several steps in place that will prevent people from doing just this sort of thing. It should prevent vessels from becoming derelict in the first place and that's a good first step."

Mattatall said abandoned vessels are fairly common.

"I believe there are 642 derelict and abandoned vessels across Canada — certainly a large number of them are on the Eastern Seaboard. It's a huge number, it's a huge problem, certainly not just in Shelburne, many places in Nova Scotia," she said.

Shelburne has had six derelict or abandoned vessels in its harbour in the last 10 years.