Ships Used As Reefs Contain PCBs

For example, when HMCS Saguenay was scuttled 15 years ago in Lunenburg Bay, Nova Scotia, the navy said all toxic and dangerous material, including oil or PCBs, was stripped from the ship. But the defence department did not reveal that there were hundreds of miles of electrical wires left on board the Saguenay filled with PCBs. HMCS Saguenay was one of a dozen warships built in the 1960s for the navy — back when PCBs weren't a concern. PCBs have been linked to cancer. The Saguenay now lures scuba diving tourists. Rick Welsford, of the Artificial Reef Society, who spearheaded the artificial reef concept, said that until recently, he didn't know there were any PCBs in the ship's wiring. "Well I wouldn't be afraid of any kind of site testing and if anybody was uncomfortable, we could do that," Welsford said. Mark Butler of the Ecology Action Centre said the Saguenay and other navy ships now being used as reefs pose a real danger. "I think they've got a problem. Once you dump something in the ocean, it's pretty difficult to get it back out again." "The discovery that a couple of these ships contain PCBs perhaps makes these sites no longer tourism sites but toxic sites." http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/01/04/pcb-ship.html

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