Fuel spill during peak season will hurt business: water sports company
Posted April 11, 2015 11:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A Vancouver business which relies on the use of area waters is worried a fuel leak during the summer months would kill his business.
Chris Ladner with Eco Marine Paddlesport Centres says this isn’t really a busy time of year for them so they haven’t been impacted too much by last week’s bunker fuel leak.
He fears another fuel spill during the peak season would do more than just damage the water.
“It’s important for us to have clean water, no question. Our business survives on June, July and August and if we miss a day or two in there, that’s not good for us.”
He says many of his customers are tourists who want to experience the ocean.
“On any given summer, we put about 12 thousand people on the water and if you want to extrapolate that both in rentals and in lessons and we also put a lot of tourists on the water. The idea is when you come to Vancouver kayaking is a unique thing you can do in Vancouver. To me, it’s a primary thing that people want to do when they come to Vancouver and if we don’t have pristine water ways, our business is done.”
He hopes in the future there would be a better way to detect a spill as well as a faster response to clean it up.
