Welcome To Coastal Voices!
Welcome to the first edition of the Coastal Voices e-newsletter. Our aim is to send this e-newsletter out every three months to keep the people who work and live on the North Island and Central Coast informed about local marine planning issues.
Marine Planning
This section is intended to give updates on the status of marine planning in the region, specifically around the federally-proposed marine planning process for the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA). The PNCIMA includes waters of the Central Coast, North Coast and Haida Gwaii, as well the waters around northern Vancouver Island.
The need for integrated management in this area was identified in Canada’s Ocean Strategy in 2002 and Canada’s Ocean Action Plan in 2005. However, in the last two years not much progress has been made in moving the planning process forward. The PNCIMA process will involve the federal government (with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as lead agency), the Province of B.C., and First Nations working at a government to government to government level.
We have heard that the federal and provincial governments, along with an alliance of First Nations from the Central Coast up to Haida Gwaii (Coastal First Nations), are very close to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to a governance structure for PNCIMA. It is possible that they may announce the MOU as early as late April.You may be asking yourself: what does this have to do with me? The answer is that if you live on the North Island or Central and North Coast, you will be affected by PNCIMA planning. If this process is done properly there is an opportunity to increase certainty around activities and decrease conflicts between user groups, while balancing the ecological, social and economic needs of the area. For this process to work, though, it must take into account the voices of the people who live and work on the coast – including YOURS.
Lessons from Australia
People from Skidegate to Sointula turned out in droves to hear two speakers from Australia share their experiences from one of the world’s best examples of community engagement in action – the rezoning of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
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| Australians Graham Scott (left) and Russell Butler (right) came to B.C.’s coast to share their stories of marine planning on the Great Barrier Reef. Neither had seen snow before. Graham asked if B.C. stood for “bloody cold.” |
Living Oceans Society brought the “Down Under Duo” to northern Vancouver Island and B.C.’s Central Coast from March 25 to April 4 to tell their stories including the successes and challenges that they faced as community residents, First Nations and fishermen working to rezone the Great Barrier Reef.
“We invited Graham and Russell to come on tour because a marine planning process is getting underway on B.C.’s North and Central Coast,” said Lara Renehan, Living Oceans’ Local Marine Planner who hosted the presentations. “Even though we won’t be finding Nemo here, there are definitely lessons that can be learned from the GBR rezoning experience. Russell and Graham told us that we can get a good result if everyone works together.”
“There’s not much point in fighting about the piece of the pie when you can work to make the pie bigger,” was one message that Graham Scott brought from half way around the world. Scott got involved early in the GBR rezoning as an “honest broker,” connecting stakeholders to planners and dispelling mistrust and misinformation. “We knew the area we were working with and we knew the ground rules,” said Scott. “If you have a field and know the rules of the game then you can play.”
When the Australian government decided to rezone the GBR Marine Park it was decided that 20 percent of the ocean would be set aside as “green zones” or “no take” areas where the only commercial activity allowed is tourism. No take areas help restore populations of fish and marine species whose numbers have dropped. “We were able to get everyone in our area to find common ground that they could agree on,” Scott recalled. “Think of it as giving up one of five areas that you currently use, or maybe two of five. No one group had to give up four areas while another group gave up one or none. It was fair.”
“It’s a good feeling to know we can go back there and know that it’s our home—a place where we belong,” Butler said. One of the greatest benefits for Butler’s people is that their youth have employment as rangers in the park with the GBR Authority and capacity to enforce the rules.
Local Ecological Knowledge
This section will be a regular feature contributed by Vern Sampson, our Local Ecological Knowledge Coordinator, about the work that he is doing interviewing people like you up and down the coast. Vern has spent over 30 years on the water and even though he’s now working out of an office instead of a boat, he still has his pulse firmly tuned to the workings of the coast. Here is Vern’s first report:
First of all, what is Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK)? Basically, it
is the knowledge gained over time by people who work and live on the
coast about the environment around them. Some examples are valued
fishing spots, spawning and nursery grounds, kelp and seaweed beds,
shellfish beaches and coral and sponge reefs, and other special and
unique features.
We have had a wide range of LEK participants
so far, including commercial fishermen, scuba divers, mariners, and
local residents. One thing that they all have in common is the desire
to have their grandchildren benefit from a sustainable marine
environment well into the future.
Living Oceans Society has a
good database of information for the western areas of Johnston Strait
and the Broughton Archipelago area, but would like to incorporate more
data from the Central Coast – “North of Caution.”
Some of you
may have concerns about divulging areas of importance to you. Living
Oceans Society is very aware of the need to protect information and
respect confidentiality. We have devoted an entire section of our LEK
webpage to explaining how we do it. Please click here to learn more.
We
make sure that everyone who participates in an interview signs a data
use agreement so that their information is protected, and so the
participants themselves can lay out how the information they provide
can be used.
How many times have you seen a management decision come down the
pipeline that didn’t recognize or take into account information that
you knew was important? Our goal in collecting the information is to
get a more comprehensive picture of the marine environment from a local
perspective. We will link that up with science to fill in the gaps in
information. The main way that this will happen is through a GIS
database. The maps generated from this project will be shared back with
participants.
If you are interested in setting up an interview,
or want some more information about what an interview looks like, you
can contact me at 250-973-6580 or vsampson@livingoceans.org.
Coastal Voice: Jared Towers
Jared Towers is a local businessman and whale researcher who has lived on the coast his whole life. In the summer he runs Seasmoke whale watching in Alert Bay, which is the only company on the coast that does daily tours by sailboat. This year Seasmoke is celebrating their 21st year in business.
Jared has always been interested in killer whales and has followed the
research conducted on them since he was a child. Over the past few
years he has conducted research using photo identification techniques
to develop population estimates and censuses for different species of
whales that are listed “at risk.” Jared spends about half of his time
on the waters of the South and Central Coast, so we were lucky to get
to ask him a couple of questions.
CV: Do you have a special place?
Jared: There are certainly places that I like more than others and I think the Broughton Archipelago is one of them.
CV: Why do we need to plan for the ocean?
Jared: I see it as one step along the way to better managing the coast
and if that's what planning is going to do, then great.
CV: If there was a planning process for this region, how would you want to be involved?
Jared: I would want to be involved by providing whatever input I could
that would be of value to the process. I can contribute as a business
owner and also as someone who has local knowledge on the marine
environment and how the animals that live in that environment use it.
CV: If there was one place that you would like your grandchildren to be
able to see as we all see it now, where would it be and why?
Jared: If there's one thing I've learned recently about the marine
environment is that it is always changing. One thing I'd like to see is
continued species diversity on the coast and as that is always
shifting, in a way I'd like to see the whole coast maintained.
If you know someone who works and lives on the coast that you think
should be our next Coastal Voice, send an email to lrenehan@livingoceans.org
