Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act (S.C. 2019, c. 1)

Marginal note:Prohibition — selling, dismantling, etc.

• 60 (1) Except as authorized under this Part, it is prohibited for a person to sell, dismantle, destroy or otherwise dispose of a wreck that was required to be reported under subsection 58(1).

• Marginal note:Prohibition — concealing or disguising

  (2) It is prohibited for a person to conceal a wreck, or use any means to disguise or conceal the fact that anything is a wreck, if the person knows that it has not been reported to a receiver of wreck under subsection 58(1).

Marginal note:Claim to wreck

61 A receiver of wreck must release a wreck or pay the proceeds of its disposition under subsection 63(1) to a person that claims ownership of the wreck and that

• (a) submits, in the form and manner specified by the Minister, a claim to the receiver within 30 days after the day on which notice was given under paragraph 63(1)(a);

• (b) establishes their claim to the satisfaction of the receiver;

• (c) pays to the receiver the receiver’s costs and expenses and the prescribed fees;

• (d) pays to the person entitled to a reimbursement under subsection 59(3) the costs and expenses referred to in that subsection; and

• (e) pays to the person entitled to the salvage award under subsection 59(1) the salvage award determined by the receiver.

Marginal note:Interpleader in case of wreck

• 62 (1) If two or more persons claim a wreck or proceeds of the disposition of a wreck, or if a person disputes the amount or value of the salvage award determined by the receiver of wreck, any court having jurisdiction in civil matters to the value or amount in question may hear and determine the matter.

• Marginal note:Maximum award

  (2) A salvage award that a court makes under subsection (1) must not exceed the value of the wreck.

Disposition of Wrecks

Marginal note:When wrecks may be disposed of

• 63 (1) A receiver of wreck may sell, dismantle, destroy or otherwise dispose of a wreck that was the subject of a report referred to in subsection 58(1), or authorize its disposition, only if

  • (a) 30 days have elapsed after the day on which notice was given that the wreck was reported; or

  • (b) in the opinion of the receiver, the wreck is likely to deteriorate rapidly.

• Marginal note:Proceeds held by receiver of wreck

  (2) The proceeds, if any, of a disposition under subsection (1) must be held by the receiver of wreck for not less than 30 days after the day on which the disposition occurred.

• Marginal note:Payment to Receiver General

  (3) The proceeds of a disposition under subsection (1) must be paid, less the amounts described in paragraphs 61(c) to (e), to the Receiver General

  • (a) if no claim has been submitted in accordance with paragraph 61(a); or

  • (b) if a claim to the wreck has not been established within the period that the receiver of wreck considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Consent not required

64 A person that has been awarded all or part of a wreck under section 59 or that obtains a wreck under section 63 is not required to obtain the consent of its owner to register it as a vessel or obtain a pleasure craft licence for it under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

Marginal note:Unpaid salvage award, fees, etc.

65 If a person has established a claim to a wreck, but has not paid the salvage award or the costs and expenses described in paragraphs 61(c) to (e) within 30 days after the day on which the receiver of wreck notified the person that the amounts were due, the receiver may sell, dismantle, destroy or otherwise dispose of all or part of the wreck and, if it is disposed of, must pay, from the proceeds of the disposition, the expenses of the disposition and the award and the costs and expenses described in paragraphs 61(c) to (e), and release whatever remains of the wreck and pay any amount that remains from the proceeds to that person.

General

Marginal note:Prosecutions or violations

66 In any proceeding related to a contravention of this Part, it is not necessary to identify the wreck as the property of a particular person or as coming from a particular vessel.

PART 5Administration and Enforcement

Measures Relating to Hazards

Marginal note:Minister of Fisheries and Oceans — authority to enter

• 67 (1) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may, in exercising the powers referred to in sections 21, 22 and 36 or for the purposes of determining whether a vessel or wreck poses, or may pose, a hazard, enter a place, including a vessel or wreck.

• Marginal note:Powers on entry

  (2) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may, in exercising those powers or for that purpose,

  • (a) examine the place and anything in the place;

  • (b) use any means of communication or cause it to be used;

  • (c) use any computer system or data processing system, or cause it to be used, to examine data contained in or available to it;

  • (d) prepare or cause to be prepared any record, in the form of a printout or other intelligible output, from the data;

  • (e) direct any person to produce for inspection, or for the purposes of making copies or taking extracts, any document;

  • (f) use any copying equipment or cause it to be used;

  • (g) conduct tests or analyses;

  • (h) take measurements or samples;

  • (i) take photographs or make recordings or sketches;

  • (j) remove anything for the purposes of examination, testing or copying;

  • (k) direct any person to put anything into operation or to cease operating it;

  • (l) prohibit or limit access to all or part of the place or to anything in the place; and

  • (m) direct any person to establish their identity to his or her satisfaction.

• Marginal note:Minister of Fisheries and Oceans — other powers

  (3) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, in exercising the powers referred to in sections 21, 22 and 36 or for the purposes of determining whether a vessel or wreck poses, or may pose, a hazard, may

  • (a) direct any person to provide any information; and

  • (b) direct the vessel, if it is about to enter or is within Canadian waters or in the exclusive economic zone of Canada,

    • (i) to stop,

    • (ii) to provide any information,

    • (iii) to proceed through those waters or to the place that he or she may specify within those waters, by the route and in the manner that he or she may specify, and to moor, anchor or remain there for any reasonable period that he or she may specify,

    • (iv) to proceed out of those waters, by the route and in the manner that he or she may specify, or

    • (v) to remain outside those waters.

• Marginal note:Emergency zone

  (4) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may, if he or she has reasonable grounds to believe that a vessel or wreck poses a hazard that is grave and imminent, declare an emergency zone, the size of which is reasonable with regard to the seriousness of the situation, and

  • (a) direct any vessel within that emergency zone to report its position to him or her;

  • (b) direct any person or vessel to leave or not to enter the emergency zone or any vessel not to leave the emergency zone; and

  • (c) direct any vessel within the emergency zone in respect of routes, speed limits and pilotage and equipment requirements.

• Marginal note:Exclusive economic zone

  (5) Every power that may be exercised in Canada under this section may be exercised in the exclusive economic zone of Canada.

Marginal note:Disposition of samples

• 68 (1) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may dispose of a sample taken under paragraph 67(2)(h) in any manner that he or she considers appropriate or may submit it for analysis or examination to any person that he or she considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Certificate or report

  (2) A person that has made an analysis or examination under subsection (1) may issue a certificate or report that sets out the results of the analysis or examination.

Marginal note:Return of anything removed

• 69 (1) Anything removed under paragraph 67(2)(j) must be returned as soon as feasible after it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was taken unless

  • (a) the thing, in the opinion of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, is no longer useful; or

  • (b) the owner is unknown or cannot be located.

• Marginal note:Thing not returned

  (2) The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may dispose of anything that is not returned under subsection (1), in the manner that he or she considers appropriate, and any proceeds realized from the disposition are to be paid to the Receiver General.

Marginal note:Interference

70 Unless authorized by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, it is prohibited for a person to knowingly move, alter or interfere in any way with a sample taken under paragraph 67(2)(h) or anything removed under paragraph 67(2)(j).

Designation of Enforcement Officers

Marginal note:Designation by Minister

71 The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons as enforcement officers for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of all or part of this Act — other than subsection 19(1), section 20, subsection 21(1), paragraph 36(c), subsection 37(1), paragraphs 67(2)(e), (k) and (m), subsections 67(3) and (4) and section 70 — and may limit in any manner that he or she considers appropriate the powers that the officers may exercise under this Act.

Marginal note:Designation by Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

72 The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans may designate persons or classes of persons as enforcement officers for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of all or part of subsection 19(1), section 20, subsection 21(1), paragraph 36(c), subsection 37(1), paragraphs 37(3)(c), 67(2)(e), (k) and (m), subsections 67(3) and (4) and sections 70, 87 and 88 and may limit in any manner that he or she considers appropriate the powers that the officers may exercise under this Act.

Marginal note:Certificate of designation

73 The Minister or the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, as the case may be, must provide every enforcement officer with a certificate of their designation and, if the officer’s powers are limited under section 71 or 72, the certificate must specify the powers that the officer may exercise.

Compliance Measures

Marginal note:Authority to enter

• 74 (1) An enforcement officer may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act, enter a place, including a vessel or wreck, in which the enforcement officer has reasonable grounds to believe that

  • (a) there is anything to which this Act applies;

  • (b) there has been carried on, is being carried on or is likely to be carried on any activity in respect of which this Act applies; or

  • (c) there is any book, record, electronic data or other document relating to the application of this Act.

• Marginal note:Powers on entry

  (2) The enforcement officer may, for that purpose,

  • (a) examine the place and anything in the place;

  • (b) use any means of communication or cause it to be used;

  • (c) use any computer system or data processing system, or cause it to be used, to examine data contained in or available to it;

  • (d) prepare or cause to be prepared any record, in the form of a printout or other intelligible output, from the data;

  • (e) direct any person to produce for inspection, or for the purposes of making copies or taking extracts, any document;

  • (f) use any copying equipment or cause it to be used;

  • (g) conduct tests or analyses;

  • (h) take measurements or samples;

  • (i) take photographs or make recordings or sketches;

  • (j) remove anything for the purposes of examination, testing or copying;

  • (k) direct any person to put anything into operation or to cease operating it;

  • (l) prohibit or limit access to all or part of the place or to anything in the place; and

  • (m) direct any person to establish their identity to the enforcement officer’s satisfaction.

• Marginal note:Powers — direction to provide information

  (3) An enforcement officer may, for a purpose related to verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act,

  • (a) direct any person to provide any information; and

  • (b) direct a vessel, if it is about to enter or is within Canadian waters or in the exclusive economic zone of Canada, to provide any information.

• Marginal note:Powers — direction to vessel

  (4) If an enforcement officer has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence under this Act has been committed, they may direct a vessel that is about to enter or is within Canadian waters or in the exclusive economic zone of Canada

  • (a) to stop;

  • (b) to proceed through those waters or to the place within those waters that they may specify, by the route and in the manner that they may specify, and to moor, anchor or remain there for any reasonable period that they may specify;

  • (c) to proceed out of those waters, by the route and in the manner that they may specify; or

  • (d) to remain outside those waters.

• Marginal note:Exclusive economic zone

  (5) Every power that may be exercised in Canada under this section may be exercised in the exclusive economic zone of Canada.