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Asked for more details, Bate replied: “The site manager relayed the following info: ‘There used to be a family of raccoons on the boat. Some of our staff saw them walk up the ramp.’”

Photo by Ben Nelms/For the National Post

On top of the unwanted visitors, there also appears to be some concern about the ship’s worsening condition. Internal emails obtained through an access-to-information request show a June 2016 inspection report found that while there were no imminent flooding hazards, “as conditions continue to deteriorate aboard, it is recommended disposal be undertaken as soon as possible.”

Jonathan Cote, mayor of New Westminster, whose boundaries encompass the Port Royal waterfront residential development directly across the channel from the Sun Sea, said he worries about potential “unintended consequences” of leaving a vacant vessel in the river.

“I think there does need to be some responsibility of the federal government to not have derelict boats staying for too long a period of time. There is an aesthetic issue, but there’s also other issues with having boats in deteriorating conditions along the waterfront,” he said.

“If the boat doesn’t have any reasonable use to be repurposed, there really is no advantage in terms of … having it remain in the water.”

There are specific requirements for disposing a vessel of this nature, which contributes to the complexity of this process Stefanie Wudel

In an email, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency — which is the legal custodian of the ship — said “our priority is to dispose of the vessel in a safe, compliant and efficient manner,” but such a process takes time.