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(07/12/11) It's been just over a month since agents from the Canadian Border Security Agency fined American fisherman Roy Anderson $1000 and threatened to seize his boat. Anderson was doing something boaters have been doing for generations without thinking it was an issue--floating, without docking, in Canadian waters on the St. Lawrence.
Since then, there's been a lot of confusion among boaters about where they could and couldn't go--and a lot of concern among those who depend on the tourism industry for their living about how that confusion would affect the season.
Two major developments Friday seemed to indicate the situation was on its way to being resolved--but Nora Flaherty reports it's more complicated than that.
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The international border divides the Thousand Islands.
On Friday, the CBSA announced it will now allow boaters to check in on their cell phones if they cross the border, rather than having to dock and use a special CBSA landline. It’s a move that will certainly make boaters’ lives easier. But Congressman Bill Owens says it’s not enough. He says boaters are accustomed to using the river freely—on both sides of the border—and even if there aren’t any more incidents like what happened with Ray Anderson, the chance that could happen makes boaters justifiably nervous. I think practically we’re in a scenario where we’re back to where it was before—but legally there’s this possibility of enforcement and that’s always going to make people jittery. It’s a little disappointing because it really doesn’t address the situation, and how it’s functioned quite well for likely 100 years. Also on Friday, Governor Cuomo said Roy Anderson will be getting his $1000 back. But what he’ll actually be getting is $999—rather than returning the whole fine—which would seem to be an admission of wrongdoing—Canada has opted to reduce it to $1. So while Anderson is likely glad to be getting his money back, that $999 refund also comes with the message that the CBSA’s sticking by its guns. And that’s likely to keep boaters nervous, too. Rich Clark is a fishing guide out of Clayton—he’s staying upbeat, but he says he expects things aren’t going to be as simple as they once were: It used to be seamless, now it’s not going to be seamless and I hope they continue to work with us to make it fairly easy. Politicians on the state and local level have been trying to find some resolution to this for over a month now…but Owens says in his view the only way relations on the St. Lawrence can get back to how they were before, is through legislation: That would make this very clear that if you’re fishing on either side of the international border, recreating, boating, that there’s no requirement to sign in. Owens says he has plans to meet with his Canadian counterpart, Member of Parliament Gord Brown, to talk about that…but that he doesn’t see this situation being resolved before the end of this year’s tourist season.
The number to check in with Canadian customs is 888-226-7277. And you can read a fact sheet from the Canadian Border Services Agency about check-in requirements.
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