A Columbia Shuswap Regional District director is floating the idea for a bylaw that would enable ticketing people for illegal buoys. 

On the agenda for the May 27 Electoral Area Director's meeting is a report from Electoral Area F (North Shuswap) director Jay Simpson regarding illegal buoy installation. He explains they're being installed in areas around the lake, prompting calls from residents to "myself and Bylaw Enforcement regarding this situation."

"Most recently, a buoy was installed right beside the new Scotch Creek water system intake, and a houseboat was attached. This houseboat is being lived on, on-and-off, and is a concern on a number of issues," explained Simpson, listing the following: the buoy is illegal; the houseboat is an eyesore for waterfront owners in the neighbourhood; living on the houseboat requires grey and black water accumulation with the nearest pump-out in Sicamous; and "illegal dumping of grey and black water right at the intake for our water system is a potential issue."

Simpson notes the CSRD does not have capacity to attend every buoy installation and "interact with the perpetrators," suggesting known owners of illegal buoys should be contacted and notified their installation is illegal, and "ticketing should be initiated within a month if the buoy is not removed."

"The companies around the lake who install these buoys should also be contacted and advised that they are installing illegal buoys and encouraged not to do that," said Simpson, suggesting a bylaw would be an easier solution than removing buoys after the fact. 

For a number of years now the CSRD has annually partnered with Transport Canada in removing illegal buoys from Shuswap Lake, while the board has submitted at least two resolutions to the Union of BC Municipalities, including one in 2024 that stated local governments "continue to experience an ongoing significant proliferation of non-compliant and illegal buoys on lakes in the province, which has led to an untenable enforcement and public safety situation, as well as causing environmental and fisheries concerns." The motion reminded the B.C. and federal governments that they share a "jurisdictional authority and responsibility regarding enforcement and removal."

乌鸦传媒淥ne of the most common complaints CSRD gets is about the proliferation of buoys around the lake, including from residents who have them,乌鸦传媒� said CSRD director Kevin Flynn at the board's February 2024 meeting. "We need to keep removing them and the levels of government that have the authority need to do that.乌鸦传媒�