(June 13, 2024) On Sunday June 9th, 160 volunteers headed to McNabs Island in Halifax Harbour to clean up garbage that had washed ashore since last summer. Volunteers collected approximately 300 bags of garbage, including broken lobster traps, an assortment of tires, lots of Styrofoam and plastic junk, parts of a navigation system for a boat, an old plastic toy gun, and a wallet.

In total, volunteers have collected more than 17,000 bags of garbage and recyclables from the beaches of McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park and Fort McNab National Historic Site over the past 34 years. This cleanup is the longest-running and largest cleanup in the Maritimes!

Ghost Gear Marine Fishing Debris continues to be a significant part of the garbage collected from the island’s shoreline. Small colourful plastic Lobster bands, tags and bait bags, broken fish crates, and lobster traps continue to litter the beaches.

The most unusual item found this year was a wallet with $5 inside. After the cleanup, we tracked down the owner and gave him back his wallet. He was delighted to get it back after losing it last summer when it fell in the water some distance from where it washed up on the island.

Sadly, the bulk of the items collected are plastics which break down into micro-plastics over time and stay in the environment for centuries. Unfortunately, plastic tampon applicators from the sewage system and too many Tim Horton’s coffee cups with their plastic liners continue to litter the beaches.
Thanks to teams from McInnes Cooper, Butterfield Support Services, the Port of Halifax, the Alnass Community Association and many individuals and families who volunteered to pick up garbage that littered the island park. Support for the cleanup this year came from Michelin Canada and McInnes Cooper. As they have done for decades, Source Atlantic supplied the gloves for the volunteers.

The Friends of McNabs Island Society is a volunteer-driven registered charity dedicated to preserving and protecting McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park and Fort McNab National Historic Site. Since 1990, the Friends of McNabs have improved the trails and park facilities, organized community beach cleanups, offered guided tours to island visitors and this year opened an Outdoor Education Centre on the island – making McNabs Island a welcoming park for everyone.

See cleanup photos here

Captain Gary O’Donnell will give a historical overview of marine piloting in Halifax Harbour at the
society’s 34 th Annual General Meeting on Monday, April 8 th . The meeting will be held at the Nova
Scotia Museum of Natural History, 1748 Summer Street in Halifax. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the
meeting starting at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Museum. All are welcome.

“The main responsibility we have as pilots today is to ensure the safety of the public for marine
shipping in and out of our harbour,” says Capt. O’Donnell, a graduate of the Canadian Coast Guard
College and a veteran of more than 10 trips in the polar waters of Canada’s North.

Capt. O’Donnell, a retired master mariner whose decades-long career includes more than 20 years of
piloting vessels in Halifax Harbour, will outline key events in piloting history. His talk will describe
measures aimed at safeguarding navigation for ship traffic in Halifax Harbour. He will discuss the
history of his field, illustrated with a few archival photographs. The pictures show how piloting has
modernized itself from a time when schooner-based pilots used rowboats to board incoming vessels.
Most recently employed by the Atlantic Pilotage Authority, Capt. O’Donnell says the local pilotage
system has been “incident-free” for 99.9 per cent of vessels. The impressive safety record, he adds, has
been sustained even with the increasing number of larger-sized vessels.

Halifax has a naturally deep, wide, ice-free harbour with minimal tides. The harbour was called
Kjipuktuk by the Mi’kmaq. They were the original inhabitants of the land and the first navigators of the
seaway and the connecting river waterways. Halifax is one of a few eastern seaboard ports able to
accommodate the very largest container ships. Annually, the port handles over 1,500 vessels, ranking it
among Canada's top four ports by container volume.

It was the 1917 Halifax Explosion that, over time, brought system-wide piloting changes. The disaster
of December 6 was caused by the collision of the munitions ship, Mont Blanc, and the relief supplies
ship, Imo. It devastated the north end of the city, killed almost 2,000 residents and left 9,000 more
maimed or blinded.

The tragedy also created controversy, still debated and disputed, of the role of pilot Frances Mackey.
Until the collision, Mackey had a spotless twenty-four-year service record as a harbour pilot. But after
the collision, Mackey was vilified in press coverage and arguably made the scapegoat in court
proceedings.

Capt. O’Donnell offers his professional perspective. “Seven years ago, we observed the 100 th
anniversary of the Halifax Explosion and the role the pilots played and endured after this terrible
occurrence. It could be said that this event was a defining moment on the role of how pilotage evolved
and changed, not only in Halifax, but across the country.”

Although there had been changes in the industry before the explosion, more substantial changes ever
since are transforming the industry. Among the significant milestones was the 1968 Royal Commission
on Pilotage. This resulted in the Pilotage Act and the 1972 establishment of the Atlantic Pilotage
Authority.

Nowadays, Capt. O’Donnell explains, becoming a fully licensed pilot only takes place after a rigorous
program. Newly hired apprentice pilots undergo three years of training, completing hundreds of
assignments under the supervision of a senior pilot.

While candidates tend to be younger, in their mid-30s, they also have a sophisticated level of expertise,
Capt. O’Donnell says. Education for pilots places a high priority on an intimate knowledge of local
waters, and specialized training on the most up-to-date ship equipment and simulation facilities.

O’Donnell himself has a Class A piloting license that qualifies him to pilot vessels of any size, and any
tonnage, in and out of Halifax Harbour. He says: “Pilot apprentices bring with them a more technically
oriented background. Many of them were previously employed in highly technical backgrounds, for
example the oil patch, or the chemical and product carrier industry.”