Guided sea kayak tour companies are calling foul on the timing of a recently introduced fee for backcountry camping in the Sunshine Coast’s marine parks.
Adam Vallance, owner of Powell River Sea Kayak, said that while the fee could be justified for camping inside the park, he can not understand the timing.
BC Parks announced though the media, in March 2014, that all park users intending to spend the night in the park, including those on guided sea kayak tours, would be required to pay $5 per night, collected by the park caretakers.
Dylan Eyers, Sunshine Coast area supervisor for BC Parks, said that the parks service approved the fee in January 2014, after services were quadrupled in the park with the creation of 11 designated campsites with 60 tent pads and the installation of eight vault toilets throughout Desolation Sound, Malaspina and Copeland Islands marine parks. The facilities were upgraded throughout the parks in an attempt to protect the parks’ sensitive cultural and environmental values, said Eyers.
Commercial tour operators were consulted on the designated campsites plan in 2012 and put their support behind the ministry of environment’s park plan, said Eyers.
“Everyone seemed to be supportive of the direction we were headed,” he added. “The challenge was how we were going to protect [the park] and still provide a world-class kayaking opportunity.”
Eyers said that at the end of 2013, once the campsites were complete and vault toilets were installed, BC Parks decided to introduce the fee for the park opening on June 1 to pay for the ongoing maintenance costs of the new facilities. Payment would be required until September 15.
Previously only two pit toilets were located in the marine parks: one in the Copeland Islands and one in the Curme Islands. The eight new vault toilets, which collect the waste in containers, are designed to be pumped out and so minimize environmental impact.
Annual maintenance on the toilets is expected to run as high as $4,000, said Eyers.
The cost, he said, was from having to load a sewage pumper truck onto a barge and tow it around to each site.
On Thursday, May 29, two days before BC Parks would start requiring the fee to be collected, Eyers sent out an email to the commercial tour operators with information on how the backcountry permits could be purchased.
It was the first Vallance had heard of the fee.
“This was completely unexpected,” he said. “As a commercial operator, this could cost us thousands of dollars each year.”
John Hermson, of Footprint Kayak and Hike Explorations, echoed Vallance’s frustration with the cost increase.
Vallance added that because he starts to take reservations for the summer sea kayak tour season in December, he feels like he can not pass the added expense on to his pre-booked guests.
He added that if the government wanted to introduce the fee they should have given the tour companies at least six months’ warning.
“Some may find it okay but others will be frustrated with the unexpected expense,” he said.
Eyers said he was not able to comment on the effectiveness of the ministry’s communications with the public and tour operators on the matter.
It is estimated that approximately 5,000 sea kayakers visit the area’s marine parks each year.
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