Catherine Stewart, our Salmon Farming Campaign Manager, testified before the Cohen Commission Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River on September 7-8. Here's Catherine describing what came to light during her time at the inquiry: DFO's conflicting mandate No money for scientific research but DFO spends lavishly to promote aquaculture Funding for closed containment pilots - so close

For the last several years Living Oceans Society has championed the PNCIMA planning process as the best chance to protect B.C.’s North Coast waters while ensuring sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities. PNCIMA is pronounced pen-SEE-mah and it stands for the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area.

PNCIMA is the first time that the governments of Canada, B.C. and First Nations came together with environmentalists and the marine industries to develop a plan on how to use the ocean instead of using it up. Living Oceans speaks for the conservation community at the Integrated Oceans Advisory Committee (IOAC) where we sit at the table alongside commercial fishermen, shipping interests, tourism operators, the oil and gas sector and other stakeholders. First Nations, federal and provincial governments work together in the PNCIMA Steering Committee.

To get PNCIMA underway, the federal and provincial governments and First Nations—after consulting with a broad range of stakeholders—agreed to pursue a public-private funding model with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to cover the costs of stakeholder engagement, a science advisory team, and other expenses that fell outside DFO’s existing budget. Last January, after an extensive review, federal government lawyers approved an arms-length funding arrangement whereby the Moore Foundation would contribute $8.3 million to PNCIMA. The Moore Foundation has a long track record working with U.S. state governments on multi-use ocean planning, and public-private partnerships are neither new nor unusual in Canada.

But now the work that everyone has done to create this planning process is coming undone. Stephen Harper’s government has pulled out of the funding agreement with the Moore Foundation because they are worried that the opposition from the people who work and live on this coast to oil tankers would create another hurdle for the Prime Minister’s dream of shipping oil from the tar sands to China through the proposed Enbridge pipeline. It did not take much lobbying from the shipping industry and Enbridge to convince Harper to strip local residents and First Nations of the opportunity to create a future that includes a healthy ocean and healthy economy, and pave the way for a pipeline and oil tankers.

At the last meeting of the IOAC in Prince Rupert on Sept. 14, shortly after the funding cut, DFO announced that it would adopt “a more focused” plan. DFO is left with a skeleton staff team and no money to pay for the much needed science team, working groups, workshops, forums, research, GIS analysis or a spatial plan. We are left with an empty process that won’t protect the ocean or the coastal economy. Planning will now go back to a piecemeal approach instead of looking at a management plan for entire ecosystems. We could be stuck with one or two marine protected areas and a free for all everywhere else. That’s not a good way to care for the ocean we all depend on.

Right now the B.C. government and First Nations are considering their options, as are the other IOAC members and Living Oceans. Although the government has changed PNCIMA’s game plan, we will adapt and continue working towards our goal of setting up a network of marine protected  areas and ecosystem based management along British Columbia’s coast.

Send an email to Prime Minister Harper After years of negotiations among First Nations, tourism operators, local residents and others to establish an ocean plan for Canada's Pacific North Coast, the federal government pulled out of a funding partnership designed to support scientific research, analysis and public input. Tell the Prime Minister that you want Canada to step forward to reinstate funding for PNCIMA so that we can establish a truly sustainable future for our oceans and the communities that depend upon it. Don't pull the plug on PNCIMA!

Now is the time to speak up unless you want to see over 200 of these oil tankers loaded with crude oil from the tar sands sailing the coast of B.C. each year.

Right now Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Project is going through a federal environmental review process that will determine the fate of B.C.'s North Coast. If the project is approved, Enbridge will have a green light to construct crude oil pipelines that would bring over 200 super tankers to Kitimat every year. The review panel will hear from the lawyers next summer. Now it's time for you to have your say.

Until October 6, 2011 anyone can register to provide an oral statement at public hearings which will be held in communities along the proposed pipeline route as well as in Vancouver and Port Hardy early in 2012. Giving an oral statement is a way for people to share their knowledge, opinion or concerns about Northern Gateway.

This is your chance to show the review panel and Enbridge that British Columbians are not willing to risk our coast for the benefit of Big Oil. Anyone can give an oral statement – even a child. Facts are important, but so are feelings. People can choose to include facts and arguments in their statement or to make a heartfelt plea, or to do both. Your message can be as simple as "I don't want this project" to a 10 minute presentation.

Download the new Canada's Seafood Guide

The review panel needs to hear from Canadians to help them determine whether the pipelines will be built or not. The more people who comment, the better. In this case, everyone's voice really does count.

Think about this coast and what's at risk. Now, is that worth signing up to save?

Register online or print out a signup sheet and send it in.

By Jodi Stark, winner of our The Way I Sea It ocean adventure contest.

My trip to the Broughton Archipelago was a short but powerful one. It was rich with experiences and learning and it really crystallized some ideas and perspectives of which I'd like to share a few.

Orcas playing in the Broughton Archipelago.

I have long since believed that our way to healthy oceans is through the people in our coastal communities. The true stewards of the ocean are those who live there and interact most intimately with the surrounding sea. This has never been more evident to me than on this trip.

As someone who is quite knowledgeable about ocean issues, policy and management, I was humbled by the depth and layers of 'real' understanding of the place, its wildlife and issues by the people that call this place home. Below are just a few examples of these people who are doing what they can, in their own way, to protect their life support system.

I came home and was faced abruptly with the reality that the promises made by our government to include these people in management and conservation decisions are devastatingly hollow. The federal government recently pulled out of a funding arrangement to advance the PNCIMA process. This is wrong in so many ways, but after this trip, to me the part that was most offensive is the top-down decisions about our oceans coming from the Prime Minister's office with a disregard for the people in coastal communities who have a lot more valuable contribution to marine-use decisions than any amy bureaucrat s or politicians in Ottawa.

These are but some of the local ambassadors of the Broughton Archipelago whose work to help heal, inspire and protect the sea continues to inspire me:

Read more at Water Blogged>>

Offshore Art Vancouver-based artist Cam MacDonald is presenting his new exhibition Offshore in Vancouver and Courtenay, B.C. Offshore asks: How do we perceive the natural world? How do we value a plant, and animal, or an ecosystem? Will we continue to treat the natural world as an unlimited pantry for the exclusive use of human beings, or will we return to our roots and treat it with the respect and reverence that once came so naturally? October 5-17 | Little Mountain Gallery 195 E. 26th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. Opening reception Friday Oct. 7, 7:00 pm-10:00 pm Gallery open 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Until November 6 | Comox Valley Art Gallery 580 Duncan Ave., Courtenay, B.C.