Police in York Region were out on Lake Simcoe near Keswick today chasing down people who still haven’t got their ice huts in.
The huts can become hazards this time of year.
They’re above water now, but Bill Bailey says they can become “rubble just floating around.”
“Someone hits it with a boat what are they going to do?” he says.
Bailey says he sees this every year – fishing huts left to sink with the melting ice.
And York Regional Police are trying to track down the owners of several huts before the huts become floating garbage.
Tracking down the hut owners is easier said than done. While anglers must register their huts with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the MNR doesn't take down any information about what the hut looks like, so owners rip off the numbers and leave the hut for someone else to deal with.
“Rip the door with the numbers off it, burn the hut and walk away,” Bailey says, adding that’s “been happening for years.”
There is a $185 fine for anyone who has abandoned a hut on the ice. But rather than hand out tickets, police just want the huts gone.
Police can't simply remove all the ice huts themselves as technically they are private property, but they can help.
Once the ice melts and they find a hut floating in the water, they can tow it to shore because at that point it is a boating hazard.
They'd like to avoid that, however, and ask anyone going out to remove a hut to wear proper safety equipment because at this time of year the ice is always changing.
