B.C.’s marine heritage must be protected
Human activity and global warming endanger habitat, says Sabine Jessen.
There is a new sense of urgency about the need to protect Canada’s oceans. The government of Canada has made a strong international commitment to protect at least 10 per cent of our coasts and ocean by 2020. With just three years to go, and so far less than one per cent protected, Canada has a steep climb ahead.
In British Columbia there are two proposed marine protected areas that could help the government reach this ambitious target. The proposed Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area and Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area are two remarkable sites on the B.C. coast that are in desperate need of protection.
Both of these proposed marine protected areas have been under consideration for the past 20 years. However, despite the lengthy processes, little progress has been made to provide any meaningful protection for these sites. All the while, commercial and industrial use of our ocean has increased dramatically.
In working to secure these marine protected areas, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has recently partnered with an inspiring conservation group for kids — Earth Rangers — to help engage their 160,000 young members to make effective conservation in B.C. a reality.
Marine protected areas for the Scott Islands and southern Strait of Georgia will help safeguard these areas of outstanding natural beauty against threats from oil pollution, loss of prey and damage to marine ecosystems from commercial fisheries, noise pollution and disturbance of wildlife, collision with ships, and the risk of entanglement in fishing gear.
But to do this, marine protected areas need to provide strong, permanent, and legal protection of these ecosystems. In January, the federal government released its proposed regulations for the Scott Islands and conservation groups and a great many Canadians were deeply disappointed with the lack of meaningful protection being proposed.
The draft regulations allow industrial shipping and commercial fishing to continue throughout the proposed marine “protected” area, with little restriction and little thought to the direct and indirect impacts of these activities on the wildlife that calls this area home. This sets a worrying precedent for all future marine protected areas in Canada, and in particular the southern Strait of Georgia and B.C.’s southern resident killer whales.
The Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area is a globally important area for seabirds. Every year more than a million tufted puffins, auklets, and murres return to the islands to rear their young. The numbers of nesting seabirds have declined dramatically since the 1990s. The birds choose these islands because the surrounding ocean is rich with the fish and plankton that they need to survive and raise healthy chicks.
The puffins are not alone. Large numbers of Steller sea lions and sea otters live here year-round. They are joined every spring and summer by ocean voyagers like albatrosses, blue whales and even leatherback sea turtles, that travel across the Pacific to feed in these rich and productive waters. All of these animals are listed species at risk in Canada. Protecting their ocean home is vital to their survival.
Situated between our two major cities of Vancouver and Victoria, the southern Strait of Georgia is critical habitat for BC’s most famous residents, the endangered southern resident killer whales, as well as millions of seabirds, the giant Pacific octopus, ancient glass sponge reefs and 100-year-old rockfish.
In 1969, world famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau urged B.C. to protect this area. He warned that, if this area was not protected, we would see declines in animals and ecosystems to which we now bear witness. There are now fewer than 80 southern resident orcas.
Human activities coupled with climate change are placing our oceans under enormous pressure. Our aim is to protect these vulnerable ecosystems and to allow them, and the wildlife that live there, to recover and thrive.
Through our unique partnership with Earth Rangers, we are ready to show the federal government that Canadians of all ages care deeply about our oceans and want strong, meaningful protection of ocean ecosystems and our marine wildlife.
Without strong protection our oceans and marine life remain at risk. So CPAWS and Earth Rangers are now calling on Canadians to tell the government that it must do better when it comes to protecting our oceans and our ocean wildlife.