After a charter boat with 10 people on board sank near Richmond, B.C., in late June this year, some frustrated fishing guides are calling for more regulatory oversight from authorities.
“I’ve been inspected once since 1999,” said the vice president of the Vancouver Sport Fishing Guides Association (VSFG), Ivan Chu.
“There has to be some type of more enforcement on the docks.”
His concern comes after Transport Canada detained a vessel owned by Top Vancouver Fishing Charter, which saw its other fishing vessel — the nine-metre Top Ocean — sink in the Strait of Georgia, leaving six presumed drowned and another pulled from the water who later died.
Only three people who were on board the boat are known to have survived.
Having more Transport Canada inspection officers patrol B.C. docks for illegal charters, Chu said, is vital for public safety.
It is still unclear whether the Top Ocean vessel, which is believed to now sit 153-metres underwater, was registered as a legal charter.
However, a detention order on the operator’s 11-metre vessel still above water showed the pleasure craft operated as a commercial passenger vessel, and was not registered or marked properly.
(Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)
Commercial charter vessels must display a letter “C” before its registration number.
They are subject to more stringent safety standards as set by Transport Canada. There are minimum requirements on captain licensing, safety equipment and insurance among other factors which can lead to higher costs.
That includes having a properly sized life-jacket for every passenger on board. When the Top Ocean charter sank, five people were spotted in the water without life-jackets.
Unanswered reports
Chu says he regularly sees operators taking payment from passengers returning from fishing trips while aboard vessels without the designated marking.
“We report it. Nothing happens, right? It’s very frustrating,” explained Chu.
In his experience, Chu said, he has seen his reports to authorities go unanswered, which caused him to question, “What’s the use?”
David Wei is a commercial fishing charter operator with Feifan, based in Richmond. He says operating a registered charter vessel can be expensive.
The life raft on board the Feifan vessel, Wei explained, costs $2,000 to $3,000 to service each year. He said that those high-operating costs allow illegal operators to advertise lower prices.
Registered charter vessels are also required to insure each passenger with no less than $250,000 coverage.
David Wei says if operators rely on their “imagination” for the safety of their vessels “there’s no way to guarantee the vessel’s safety.” (CBC)
But Wei stressed the importance of regulating charter vessels on the water.
“Without registration or inspections, there is no oversight on the safety of your vessel.”
The charter vessel Wei operates is rarely inspected by Transport Canada, he said.
“I highly, highly recommend that the government works together to step up enforcement. These so-called ‘unlicensed boats’ actually pose a huge hidden danger to overall safety at sea,” said Wei.
The numbers
In an email, Transport Canada said it employs roughly 300 marine safety and security inspectors nationwide, with 59 assigned to the Western and Yukon regions — covering B.C., Alberta, and Yukon.
“Inspectors routinely identify instances of non-compliance, ranging from lack of training documentation to expired or missing fire suppression or life-saving equipment,” read the email.
It added that local police and the RCMP “routinely share observations and compliance concerns” with the regulatory body.
According to Transport Canada’s numbers provided to CBC News, there were 128 inspections in the Pacific Region between April 1, 2024, and Aug. 13, 2026, resulting in 65 written warnings and 23 detentions or directions.
In a different period between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2026, Transport Canada said it issued 207 Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMP) through 38 violation notices.
It noted that all 207 of those penalties were issued in Ontario and Quebec, and didn’t cite any AMPs issued in B.C. during that time.