Debris From Cargo Ship Spill Last Fall Spreading Along BC Coast: Beach Cleaners

Ships work to control a fire onboard the MV Zim Kingston about eight kilometres from the shore in Victoria, B.C., on October 25, 2021. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito

A volunteer organization that has been cleaning up debris from a cargo ship that lost 109 containers off the B.C. coast last fall says the incident should be a wake-up call to the need for more urgent action.

Alys Hoyland of the Surfrider Foundation’s Pacific Rim chapter in Tofino said urinal mats, coolers and other cargo that was swept off the MV Zim Kingston in October continue to wash up on the western shore of Vancouver Island.