Enbridge dead in the water?
On the 21st anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Living Oceans joined with more than 150 First Nations, businesses, celebrities and organizations to voice united opposition to the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline and the risk of a Valdez-scale spill on B.C.’s ‘super, natural’ coast.
On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling 40 million litres of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing irreversible damage. Now, Enbridge wants to bring the same risk to B.C.'s pristine coastal waters. A full page ad by the allied voices in the Globe and Mail coordinated with the anniversary of the disaster clearly let Enbridge know their project is not welcome in British Columbia.
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| Art Sterritt, Exeuctive Director of the Coastal First Nations, shows the proposed tanker and pipeline route. Below: A full page ad in the Globe and Mail told Enbridge and its shareholders that their controversial project is not welcome in B.C. |
On the same day, a press conference was hosted by Coastal First Nations declaring a ban on crude oil tankers carrying Alberta Tar Sands oil through their traditional territories. With Enbridge planning to file their project application with the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) any day now, these unequivocal messages let the company know that if they choose to continue with their plans, they will face virtually insurmountable obstacles. The First Nations’ tanker ban will definitely impede the project’s movement through an environmental review.
Living Oceans has been working to keep B.C.’s coast oil free since 1999 when we launched the Oil Free Coast Alliance to protect the coast from offshore oil and gas development. No sooner had we stopped the B.C. Government’s pipe dream of offshore drilling rigs, than Enbridge came along with the Northern Gateway Pipeline scheme to send tar sands crude to Asia through a marine terminal at Kitimat, B.C. If approved, the pipeline will feed over 200 tankers each year that will sail through the same waters where the Queen of the North ferry sank in 2006.
 
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Stop the Enbridge pipeline
E-mail the CEO of Enbridge and tell him you don't want tankers in B.C. waters. |
Taking it to the street
Living Oceans Society and our partners in the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) have been working diligently for change to open net-cage salmon farm practices, taking the issues to federal and provincial governments, the industry, and major retailers and grocery chains. Now one of our allies in the struggle has decided to take the issue to the people – and to the streets.
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| CLICK HERE to open a map of the proposed farm-free migration route through Wild Salmon Narrows. |
Researcher Alexandra Morton recently announced a “migration” walk from Sointula, B.C. to Victoria to galvanize citizens that are frustrated and fed-up with the current state of salmon farming. Living Oceans is very excited at the possibility that large-scale demonstrations in communities across B.C. could tip the balance toward the concrete actions CAAR has been fighting for.
Living Oceans and CAAR have successfully negotiated a commitment from Marine Harvest Canada, B.C.’s biggest salmon farming company, to develop a closed containment pilot. Like most new and innovative green technologies though, closed systems could use some government support to get off the ground. We’ve been laying the groundwork in meetings with government and political staff and raising funds from philanthropic donors. Voters marching in the streets and demanding a federal financial commitment to closed containment investment right now could be just the push our MPs need to make change a reality!
And change can happen. CAAR has successfully brokered alternating annual fallowing (emptying) of Marine Harvest Canada farms on two key wild juvenile salmon migratory routes in the Broughton Archipelago, and have undertaken joint monitoring of the sea lice impacts on wild salmon with the company of the ensuing reduction in sea lice impacts on wild salmon. The preliminary findings, based on field research led by Dr. Martin Krkosek and coordinated by
Dr. Crawford Revie, indicate a significant drop in the lice loads on wild out-migrating salmon in comparison to non-fallow years. The fallow plan is just an interim measure on the road to closed containment – but it’s the only action actually taking some of the pressure off our wild salmon while we all push for fundamental and lasting change.
So join Alex Morton when she passes through your community. Raise your voice, wave your banners and demand your federal and provincial representatives act now to support closed containment and impose real, lasting change on the open net-cage salmon farming industry. Our wild salmon and our oceans need your support.
Living Oceans continues to push deep-sea corals to the surface (of DFO’s Agenda)
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| Living Oceans has identified "hot spots" where the most deep sea corals were caught as bycatch by bottom trawling between 1996-2002. Setting these areas aside would significantly reduce the bycatch of corals. See map in Flickr. |
Living Oceans Society has been at the forefront of the push to protect deep-sea corals in Canadian waters since 2004, when we analyzed bycatch data for the Pacific groundfish bottom trawl fleet. The data revealed coral ‘hotspots’ that were in greatest need of protection. In 2005, an action alert fax campaign proved instrumental in pushing DFO to start developing a Pacific Region Coral and Sponge Conservation Strategy. Last year, in the face of lagging government action, Living Oceans Society conducted the Finding Coral Expedition in order to research deep sea corals in Canada’s Pacific, and generate public support for their protection.
These major efforts, and countless other small ones in between, keep forcing deep sea corals onto DFO’s agenda. While it has taken years and progress has been often frustratingly slow, we are confident that we are now making headway towards our long-standing goal: to see protection for deep sea corals off the coast of B.C.
“After years of delay we expect that DFO’s Coral and Sponge Conservation Strategy will be finalized very soon,” John said. “Although it is unlikely to be a panacea, the strategy should at the very least provide a framework, with defined timelines and responsible parties, to guide DFO’s coral protection and management in B.C.”
  Jennifer Lash, leader of the Finding Coral Expedition. |
Finding Coral Speaking TourDates and Places
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PNCIMA public engagement strategy released
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| Have you ever gone to a meeting with bureaucrats and wondered what language they were speaking? Here’s a glossary of the terms that will likely be used in the Pncima process. You may also need a checklist of questions to ask when reading the plan or attending community meetings. Below: Click on map to open larger image of PNCIMA and the Great Bear Rainforest. |
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There is an open public comment period on the draft and community meetings are scheduled. The people who live and work on the coast finally have something tangible that describes how they can become involved.
Living Oceans Society has been working for the past three years to get the PNCIMA process on track because we think it’s the best opportunity there for the people who live and work on the coast to be heard at the planning table. Marine planning sustains our ocean's health and supports the many coastal communities that depend on it.
An ecosystem-based management plan for the ocean will be developed similar to the Land Use Plans created for the Great Bear Rainforest.
Everyone who lives on and loves our coast or makes their living from these waters—commercial and recreational fishermen, tourism operators, seafood processors—should take the time to review and respond to this strategy.