A Vancouver Island town is trying to use bylaw enforcement to remove derelict boats in its harbour, but in the process a number of people who live on board their vessels are also facing eviction.

People have moored boats for free and lived aboard them in an area called the Dogpatch near the Ladysmith Maritime Society marina for years.

Several abandoned and derelict vessels have the community concerned about public safety and environmental contamination.

"Five vessels burned in a period of about six or seven weeks or so during the later part of the summer," said Ladysmith Mayor Aaron Stone.

The town has issued bylaw infraction notices to all boats moored or anchored in what it describes as water lot 651 in Ladysmith Harbour. According to the notice, the owners of the boats have until Nov. 15 to move their vessels.

Bryan Livingstone, 72, has lived on a boat in the area since 1997 and wonders where he will go if the town chooses to enforce the notice.

"I have been here for a long time. It's unsettling. I've got relationships with people here, and this town," he said.

Some who call their boats home also say it's frustrating that live-aboards are often lumped in with the problem of derelict vessels.

"People live here. If anybody wants [derelicts] gone, it's people who live here, said Daniel Inkersell.

The 25-year-old has moored his boat and a protective boathouse to a concrete pillar that used to hold a crane for an industrial business that operated in the harbour.

Inkersell said the 1946 Chris Craft boat he is also working to restore provides an affordable place to live between his jobs in the forest industry.

"A lot of people here are obviously on fixed incomes," Inkersell said, adding they can't afford the hundreds of dollars a month usually required for a spot in a marina.

Authority over the water

Jurisdiction over the water has been a difficult issue for communities up and down the coast that are trying to deal with derelict vessels.

The City of Victoria has long been working to get jurisdiction over a section of water near the downtown core, where a group of derelict and live-aboard vessels have moored. Evictions were expected this fall but have yet to happen.

In Ladysmith, future development is also behind the effort to clear out the harbour.

A local First Nation has an application in to turn the Dogpatch area into a marina, and ahead of that development Ladysmith believes it has the authority to use a bylaw enforcement to force boats to move on, Stone said.

But he acknowledges that some people who have been living responsibly aboard their boats may also be pushed out.

"Unfortunately, some of the good people that are down there in their live-aboards kind of get caught up in this larger issue," he said.

The town is now meeting with a group of live-aboards to see if there could be a place in the future where they could legitimately moor with regulation, Stone said.

"Hopefully we can start to build a model around responsible use of live-aboards, how they can fit into our communities, how we can accommodate them in whatever reasonable way possible, but at the same time making sure we address concerns around public safety and environmental issues."