Rodrigues said he and his friends pulled the woman from the water. She had been drinking and didn\u2019t want to call an ambulance. She was bruised and had strained her neck.<\/p>\n
Reached by the Star, she declined to be interviewed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Traffic on Toronto\u2019s shores has soared since COVID, with kayaks, paddleboards, speedboats and jet skis clamouring for space on the waterfront.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Traffic on Toronto\u2019s shores has soared since COVID, with kayaks, paddleboards, speedboats and jet skis clamouring for space on the waterfront.<\/p>\n Under Transport Canada rules, charging each passenger a fee to party on a private yacht is strictly prohibited, and yet it happens almost every summer day in Toronto.<\/p>\n Dock owners and marinas won\u2019t let illegal charters use their facilities, so instead they routinely board and disembark passengers from areas not designed for that purpose, risking serious injury or even death by drowning.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rental yacht operators say Transport Canada rules that are keeping them from operating legally were drafted for ferries and the kind of large tour boats that offer sunset tours of the harbour to hundreds of passengers at a time.<\/p>\n They say regulators did not foresee boat owners renting out their own vessels for commercial purposes. They compare yacht rentals, which can be conducted through apps, to Uber and Airbnb, which have given private citizens a way to use their own assets to generate income.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Illegal charter boats have been blamed in the deaths of passengers in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Illegal charter boats have been blamed in the deaths of passengers in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou know how Uber first came into play and all the taxi drivers were really upset,\u201d said Binamin Shah, co-founder with Sergio Ponce-de-Leon Torres of the Great Lakes Boaters Association (GLBA)<\/a>. \u201cYou know how Airbnb created a whole mess of everything? We\u2019re kind of in the same position now, with these boat rentals.\u201d<\/p>\n Shah said he does not know the owner of the boat involved in the accident on July 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shah and Ponce-de-Leon Torres, a yacht salesman, said regulators need to catch up with the times.<\/p>\n They\u2019re facing an uphill battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Saba and others, the incident in July is evidence that members of the yacht rental industry recklessly endanger the lives of passengers, by overloading boats that don\u2019t have proper safety equipment, and aren\u2019t safely operated, docking at closed piers or embankments or boardwalks.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a submission to council in April, the\u00a0Passenger and Commercial Vessel Association (PCVA)<\/a> said unlicensed charter boats are creating escalating safety risks in Toronto Harbour.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese operators undermine safety, evade taxes and regulation, and create direct risk to human life,\u201d according to the PCVA submission.<\/p>\n The PCVA document points to a \u201cmulti-jurisdictional enforcement gap,\u201d between the city, the Toronto Police Marine Unit, Transport Canada and the Toronto Port Authority.<\/p>\n Rental yacht operators, trying to distance themselves from incidents like the one on July 4 in which the woman fell off a pier,\u00a0and from incidents\u00a0that have resulted in deaths in the harbour, say they are trying to grow the industry in Toronto, but feel thwarted at every turn.<\/p>\n They say the yacht rental business is thriving in other waterfront cities, such as Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, where regulations have been adopted to make it easier for private charter rentals to operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is happening everywhere in the world,\u201d said Shah, co-founder of Luxury Yachts Co.\u00a0<\/p>\n If they could dock legally, passengers wouldn\u2019t be put at risk, Shah said. They\u2019re lobbying authorities for a designated marine access point.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But docking isn\u2019t the only safety issue, say critics.<\/p>\n Calls for a new system for private yachts<\/p>\n Shah and his organization say that despite global growth in charter markets, by their count, the number of rental yachts operating in Toronto harbour, listed on websites and apps, has declined to 65 vessels from 160 pre-COVID, as operators, frustrated by what they see as barriers to conducting business, head elsewhere.<\/p>\n In comparison, there are more than 200 charter vessels operating in Chicago, similar in population to Toronto, according to the Great Lakes Boaters Association.<\/p>\n They estimate the current size of the industry in Toronto at $4.9 million a year in direct revenue to charter boat operators, based on the number of boats in service in Toronto and the prices charged for those services. That doesn\u2019t include the supporting economic activity generated by demand for catering and event services, marine services and hotel and restaurant services.<\/p>\n The association wants to see centralized passenger loading docks and a new framework that makes it easier for rental yachts to operate legally. They said they have been trying diligently to work with authorities on the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Saba dismisses the idea of creating a new framework. He says the regulations exist for a reason. Operating a yacht for your family is one thing; operating it commercially on a daily basis presents a safety risk to everyone\u00a0\u2014 the boats simply aren\u2019t constructed to be safe in those conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s like a doctor saying, \u2018Oh, going to school for six years to do surgery is too difficult. Let me do it after a year,\u2019 which is a joke,\u201d said Saba, whose boats are built to meet Transport Canada safety requirements.<\/p>\n Transport Canada agrees with Saba.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPleasure craft are designed, constructed,\u00a0equipped\u00a0and\u00a0operated\u00a0based on\u00a0their intended use,\u201d according to a Transport Canada statement in response to questions from the Star.<\/p>\n \u201cRequirements related to\u00a0construction, stability, fire protection, machinery safety equipment, and number of crew and their qualifications are\u00a0established\u00a0accordingly. When a vessel is placed into commercial service, the nature of the operation changes.\u00a0Commercial operations involve\u00a0additional\u00a0responsibilities and liabilities,\u00a0including factors like the duty of care for paying passengers\u00a0who are unfamiliar\u00a0with the vessel and its safety equipment.\u00a0As a result, commercial vessels are subject to safety requirements that reflect\u00a0the increased\u00a0risks.<\/p>\n \u201cAmending existing regulations or developing new regulatory frameworks requires a thorough review and consultation process. Transport Canada continues to\u00a0monitor\u00a0industry developments and assess regulatory frameworks to ensure they\u00a0effectively\u00a0support marine safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Mani Saba operates Toronto Yachts, legally, and has been a vocal critic of illegal charters. He founded the Safety Awareness Boating Alliance.<\/p>\n R.J. Johnston\/Toronto Star file photo<\/p>\n Drownings have drawn attention to illegal charters<\/p>\n From the window of her office overlooking Sugar Beach on Queens Quay East, Janis Parmar has seen numerous illegal boat pickups and drop-offs this summer, sometimes as many as five lining up one behind the other in the narrow strait between Sugar Beach and Redpath Sugar on a Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n Only boats operating illegally would attempt to board or disembark passengers along the cement wall there.<\/p>\n \u201cA few weeks ago, I saw two women very shakily try to get off a boat onto the bank and I was holding my breath hoping one of them wouldn\u2019t fall,\u201d said Parmar, adding that one of the women was wearing high heels.<\/p>\n Rental yacht operators want to distance themselves from incidents like the one on Aug. 22, 2025, that resulted in the drowning death of Azaan Moosa, 27. A charge of criminal negligence causing death was laid against Nazme Saqqa of Mississauga, in connection with the incident. His next court date is Oct. 15.<\/p>\n Shah and Ponce-de-Leon Torres said they are angry at operators who try to save money by cutting back on supports that keep passengers safe\u00a0\u2014 like not having enough crew on board, or by overloading their boats to increase profits.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want everybody to be safe. We do not want overloaded boats,\u201d said Ponce-de-Leon Torres.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Toronto boaters are at odds over who can and can\u2019t operate commercially in the harbour as regulators struggle to catch up with a yacht rental <\/p>\n
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