Marine ‘protected’ area is really anything but

While I usually celebrate opinion pieces that are supportive of new protected areas, as currently proposed, the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area will not provide any protection or conservation benefits for seabirds. (“Crucial islands protected for seabirds,” column, Feb. 19.)

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has been working to get the Scott Islands protected for more than 20 years. Although we welcome efforts to establish Canada’s first marine National Wildlife Area around the Scott Islands, it is important to remember that while “a new marine protected area” sounds inherently good, the devil is in the details.

According to the draft regulations, published on Jan. 31, 2016, the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area will allow activities such as bottom trawling, longlining and industrial shipping to continue within the proposed marine “protected” area, despite knowing these activities are harmful to seabirds, marine mammals and many other marine species.

Allowing these activities to continue puts the marine wildlife and ecosystems of the Scott Islands at continued risk of bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear, habitat destruction, loss of prey species, noise pollution, and disturbance and oil spills.

Furthermore, the boundary does not include all the known important foraging areas for seabirds. The regulations also ignore a host of other species at risk that are known to use the area, including sea otters, Steller sea lions and several species of whale.

In short, there isn’t very much protection in this proposed marine “protected” area. For a country that has protected less than one per cent of its ocean and has pledged to protect 10 per cent by 2020, Canada needs to do better.

Seabirds are in decline both globally and on the Scott Islands. The breeding population at the Scott Islands has declined from 2.2 million to 1.4 million birds since 1990 and that does not include the recent mass die-offs of Cassin’s and rhinoceros auklets. Strong conservation measures are urgently needed to prevent further decline and to protect our wildlife and marine ecosystems in the face of evergrowing industrial pressures and climate change.

In response to the weak draft regulations for the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area, about 11,000 Canadians wrote to the government to demand better protection measures. This included a joint letter from the leading conservation groups in B.C. (CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, WWF, West Coast Environmental Law and Pacific Wild), and a letter from 59 leading international marine and seabird scientists. The message is loud and clear — this is not good enough.

The Scott Islands are an incredibly special place, and a marine National Wildlife Area has the potential to provide huge benefits for B.C.’s marine wildlife and ocean ecosystems. However, this will require strong protection measures to be put in place.

If the marine National Wildlife Area is designated as it currently stands, the area will set a poor precedent for future marine conservation efforts in B.C., including the proposed Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area.