Enforcing law on hazardous vessels

The Canadian Coast Guard is responsible for ensuring that vessel owners follow the law under the Canada Shipping Act and the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act. We work with vessel owners to address any hazards and pollution posed by their vessel. If owners fail to take appropriate actions or follow directives, we may issue fines or other penalties.

Working with vessel owners

The Canadian Coast Guard's first approach in preventing or mitigating harm from hazardous or polluting vessels is to work with owners of problem vessels. This means that once a vessel has been identified as a pollution threat or hazardous, we'll communicate with the owner to address the problem.

We will:

notify the owner that their vessel is or may discharge a pollutant or pose a hazard
verify the owner's response is reasonable and appropriate

If a vessel owner fails to take appropriate measures, we'll address the problem by:

issuing directions to address the hazards or the pollutants
ordering the removal of the vessel; or
addressing the hazards and/or pollutants or removing the vessel ourselves, when necessary

If a vessel pollutes or threatens to pollute the environment, then that vessel is immediately addressed.

If we can't find the owner and the vessel needs to be removed from the marine environment, we'll issue a public notice about the upcoming removal. This required step helps us to ensure that:

we've made all reasonable attempts to contact the owner
we're not removing a vessel before its owner has a chance to take action

Following the “polluter pays” principle, owners are responsible for the costs of addressing their problem vessel. This includes actions that the Canadian Coast Guard has to take on behalf of the owner including cleanup, repair and removals.

Penalties for non-compliance

Under the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act if a vessel owner fails to take appropriate measures or fails to follow a direction issued by the Canadian Coast Guard, we may issue a fine (called an Administrative Monetary Penalty) to encourage compliance.

When an individual or company receives a fine, they may request a review of the facts within 30 days. The review is made to the Transportation Appeals Tribunal of Canada.

For minor violations, the maximum administrative monetary penalty is $5,000 for individuals and $25,000 for corporations.

For serious violations, the maximum administrative monetary penalty is $50,000 for individuals and $250,000 for corporations.

The fines we've issued can be found on the Public record of fines page.

In case of more severe non-compliance, we may lay charges in front of federal court.

Under the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act, prosecution could result in:

a maximum fine of $1 million and/or up to 3 years of imprisonment for an individual
up to $6 million for corporations

Under the Canada Shipping Act, prosecution could result in:

a maximum fine of $1 million for persons or vessels, and/or up to 18 months of imprisonment

Cost of pollution

If the Canadian Coast Guard removes a vessel, cleans up pollution or addresses hazards from a vessel — or even threats of pollution or hazards, we can seek to recover the costs from:

vessel owner
vessel owner insurance
Ship and Rail Compensation Canada

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2026-02-09

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Enforcing law on hazardous vessels

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