News

August-September 2002

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

LARGEST SEA KAYAK EVENT

The 19th annual West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium will be held at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend Sept. 20-22, organized by the Trade Association of Paddlesports (TAPS).

This is the world's largest sea kayaking symposium and expected to draw 2,000 people this year to try out a beach-full of boats and gear from paddlesports' manufacturers.

The event includes seminars, on-water and classroom instruction, and demonstrations by some of the world's best paddlers, as well as opportunities to socialize with other kayakers and question representatives of major manufacturers, retailers, and outfitters. It doesn't matter if you're a seasoned kayaker or a complete beginner, there's something for everyone.

There's also the ever-popular dance on Saturday night with a live band.

Accommodations and meals are available in the Fort's dormitories and campgrounds. You can find more information online at http://wcsks.org.

OUTRIGGER WEEKEND

False Creek Racing Canoe Club is pleased to present their "Multi-Event Outrigger Weekend of Races", part of the World Indigenous People's Festival to be held in Vancouver on Aug. 31-Sept.1, 2002.

See the following for info: www.fcrcc.com, www. canadianoutrigger.com or www.iafs.info. For more info on the races, contact Steve Palmier, FCRCC at steve @stevepalmier.com, or Alan Carlsson, Head Coach FCRCC at fcrcc@telus.net.

WIN A SEA KAYAK

Tickets are on sale now in Georgia Strait Alliance's Great Summer Kayak Raffle. Only 2,000 tickets are available and cost $5 each or three for $10. This year, Barry Bezaire at Extreme Interface donated the grand prize F1 Touring Kayak (19 ft. sea kayak, $3,300).

Second prize is a three day/two night, all expenses included, kayak trip for one person, courtesy of Rainforest Kayak Adventures, Tofino. ($580.)

And third prize is a framed print by renowned West Coast artist Judi Wild, entitled "Spirit of Chief Ninstints". (102 cm. x 50 cm. $350.)

All proceeds from this raffle will help GSA with outreach and education activities in promoting green boating and establishing marine protected areas.

Charge-by-phone today and have your tickets mailed to you. Call the GSA office at (250) 753-3459. Best to buy your ticket(s) soon as last summer's raffle completely sold out.

The winning tickets will be drawn on Saturday, September 28th at the second annual Pant & Paddle relay event in Yellowpoint (south of Nanaimo, BC). www.pantandpaddle.net.

PADDLERS GO NAKED

With the tagline: "Good men gone bad for a good cause" the Georgia Strait Alliance launched its lastest fundraising project recently at HunksforHabitat.com. The site hosts over a dozen cheeky guys who reveal almost all for habitat conservation. Every $50 donation removes or adds (the donor's choice) a sea shell from your favourite Hunk.

One of the volunteers who braved cold seas and raised eyebrows for the photo shoot was Michael Pardy of Ocean River Sports in Victoria, who's the President of the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC. "Kayakers are always getting naked at the drop of a hatch cover, so doing this for marine habitat conservation was a nobrainer," he says.

Other notable kayakers who are 'out there' for this fundraiser are multi-sport athlete Dave Norona, along with Rupert Wong and David Pinel of West Coast Expeditions.

So shell out for some shells off! Your donation will protect Race Rocks and help to establish the Orca Pass International Stewardship Area - both badly needed to help rockfish, orcas and other ocean critters in distress. Orca Pass is a major, international conservation effort and it needs your help! HunksforHabitat.com.

THE MARINE LIABILITY ACT

Recently there have been concerns raised that the new Canadian 'Marine Liability Act' would result in sharply increased insurance premiums for ecotourism operators.

The Act, which was passed by the federal government last fall, sets a cap on liability at $350,000 per client, and brings Canada into compliance with international standards.

The federal Transport ministry has not yet fully developed its regulations and is relying on input from a nationwide consultation process, managed by The Mariport Group.

Some sectors, notably ecotourism, have not been effectively informed of the implications of the Act, and issues specific to ecotourism have not been adequately represented at most of the forums.

But the sky is not falling. Until regulations have been developed, Mariport says that a minimum of $1 million liability insurance should be adequate in most instances. Most operators already carry $1 million liability or higher.

Even with the new Act, risk calculations based on $350,000 per head are unlikely. New regulations are more likely to consider maximum group risk equal to not more than four clients, thus $1.3 million total.

Operators should know that waivers are no longer valid for marine portions of trips, (though still valid for land-based sections). But Mariport advises that waivers still be used as a means of informing the client of risks.

For more information, contact Mariport at 800-319-9997, www.Mariport.com, E-mail : info@Mariport.com.

DECLARATION ON ECOTOURISM

In May, as part of the 'UN International Year of Ecotourism, 2002', under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO), over 1,000 participants from 132 countries (public, private and non-governmental sectors), met at the World Ecotourism Summit, hosted in Quebec City, by Tourisme Quebec and the Canadian Tourism Commission.

The Quebec Summit, which produced a Declaration on Ecotourism, represented the culmination of 18 preparatory meetings held in 2001 and 2002, involving over 3,000 representatives from national and local governments including the tourism, environment and other administrations, private ecotourism businesses and their trade associations, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and consultants, intergovernmental organizations, and indigenous and local communities.

For the full Declaration, see www.wavelength magazine.com/2002/ecodeclaration.php.

THREATS TO THE MARINE TRAIL

The BC government is no longer willing to do lengthy stakeholder-based planning processes for the coast, like the Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), where tourism and the environment had a voice. Instead, they're now fasttracking a series of regional plans to determine what parts of the coast get developed and industrialized.

People who care about having pristine coastal areas for recreation and ecotourism need to get informed and involved quickly or it will be too late for great initiatives like the BC Marine Trail.

Check the website of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management to find out what processes are underway and contact the Ministry to ensure you have a voice. Get your organization involved or work with organizations that already are, like the Outdoor Recreation Council.

It's important that individuals speak up, but let's face it, governments tend to listen to groups which speak with a collective voice. Get involved with the BC Marine Trail Association. Call Chris Ladner at Ecomarine in Vancouver: 604-689-7575.

ONLINE OCEANS ATLAS

The United Nations is publishing an online atlas of the world's oceans to raise awareness about conservation issues. The continuously updated atlas will provide data on over-fishing, coastal habitat destruction and pollution. The goal is to help protect fish stocks, marine biodiversity, the climate, and to help negotiations of future marine- related agreements. It covers important aquatic issues such as marine bio-invasions, the state of the world's coral reefs, polarice coverage, fishing limits, temperature gradients, and bottom contours, to name a few. You can find it at www.oceans atlas.com/.

ORCAS DENIED FULL PROTECTION

The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced in June that it will not list southern resident orca whales as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), despite the whales' steep population decline and the fact that Canada declared the whales endangered last year.

"This decision is shocking," said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People For Puget Sound in Seattle. "The southern resident orcas are a distinct population of whales whose numbers have been declining for the past six years. If these whales don't qualify as endangered I don't know what does. It is disappointing the National Marine Fisheries Service doesn't want to use every tool they have to recover these precious whales."

People For Puget Sound is one of a coalition of environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned for the southern resident orcas to be listed under the ESA.

Instead of listing the southern residents under the Endangered Species Act, NMFS cited the Marine Mammal Protection Act as the tool it will use to protect the whales.However, this act is will not afford the same level of protection as the ESA would have.

Listing under the ESA would have protected them from a wide variety of harmful activities, including the discharge of toxic chemicals into Puget Sound. Without this protection the orcas' future is uncertain, at best.

For more information, contact People For Puget Sound: 206-382-7007, E-mail : people @pugetsound.org, Web : www.pugetsound.org.

SPECIES AT RISK ACT

The Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA), Bill C-5, was passed by the House of Commons June 11 by a vote of 148-85. Although the Bill remains far from perfect, conservation groups from across Canada were able to support recent amendments that strengthened habitat protection in some areas of federal jurisdiction, and allows scientists to have more say on which species will be listed as endangered.

For more than nine years Canadians have been striving for a law to protect a growing list of species at risk of extinction. That list, prepared by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), has grown from just short of 250 species in 1993, when the federal Liberal government first promised to protect species, to more than 400 today.

The effort to protect endangered species has only just begun. SARA must now pass through the Senate before becoming law. And then the law must be applied on the ground, where the future of so many animals in Canada - orca and beluga whales, monarch butterflies, grizzly bears, and others - will be determined.

NEW LAW TO PROTECT WATERS

The passage this spring of Bill C-10, the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act, is a crucial and welcome step forward in protecting Canadian waters, say World Wildlife Fund Canada and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

"This bill paves the way for establishing a network of Marine Conservation Areas (MCAs)" said Joshua Laughren, WWF-Canada's Director of Marine Conservation. "Now the real job is for Parks Canada to put this legislation to work by creating MCAs, starting in Western Lake Superior and Gwaii Haanas, on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands).

" Canada has the longest coastline in the world. But Canadian waters are showing clear signs of stress: fish stocks in parts of Atlantic and Pacific Canada have collapsed; some wildlife in the Arctic and Great Lakes show high levels of toxicity and have birth defects; habitat is being destroyed through activities like dredging and industrial development.

The bill has prohibitions on hydrocarbonand mineral development in marine conservation areas and requires the inclusion of zones that fully protect special features or sensitive elements of ecosystems.

BC ROLLS BACK PULP LAW

The new BC pulp pollution regulation which passed in June abandons the requirement for mills to get to zero discharge of organochlorines (AOX) by the end of the year.

Laurie MacBride of the Georgia Strait Alliance says, "We've gone from having the strongest pulp mill regulations in North America, to having just a pale imitation of the US regulations. What's most distressing is that the government has ignored the advice of its own science panel and failed to regulate the discharge of black liquor, which is extremely toxic."

One of the lines the industry has used with the media is that they needed this change to have a "level playing field" with the US. The province has adopted the US standard, but only for organochlorines - they've ignored air emissions and the two dozen other chemicals in the liquid pulp effluent that the US does regulate. Plus, BC has weaker testing and enforcement thanin the US - so it hardly seems to level the playing field. (It will be interesting to see if any US pulp companies lodge a complaint under NAFTA of unfair trade subsidies as a result of the new law.)

The other main line of the industry is that they're down to very low levels of AOX already, and isn't that enough? Suffice to say that organochlorines are harmful in any amount - there's no safe level. In Europe some mills are using technology to get to zero. In BC, the industry argues it's too expensive. "Of course it's expensive," says MacBride, "but we've got to look at the cost of NOT doing it - the cost to human health in air and water pollution, and the cost to us in degradation of the environment."

The government cited its AOX Science Panel as justification for this new regulation. However, the Science Panel was com-posed of two engineers and one chemist - no biologists, toxicologists, geneticists or ecosystem specialists. The bar for proving harm was so high that many health measures would not pass the test. The narrow in air and water pollution, and the cost to us in degradation of the environment." The government cited its AOX Science Panel as justification for this new regulation. However, the Science Panel was com-Terms of Reference they were given meant that the Panel could not consider important elements of public policy such as worker and community health and safety, the relation of chlorine elimination to reduction of other mill pollutants, and the links between this regulation and a sustainable, modern, efficient industry.

BC'S NEWEST MARINE PARK

BC's newest marine park has been approved for Valdes Island. Wake's Cove, a 132- hectare property that includes a mix of oldgrowth Douglas fir, Garry oak and arbutus as well as several endangered plant species, was purchased for $4.12 million, with the Marine Parks Forever Society donating $100,000 toward the deal.

The Society receives donations from recreational boaters to purchase foreshore property for preservation. The new park includes 73 hectares of foreshore. Joyce Murray, BC's Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection, said "Boaters and kayakers will be among the main groups interested in coming here". There is no car or ferry access.

Wakes Cove provides a sheltered anchorage and offers hiking trails, picnicking, wildlife viewing and overnight camping.

The new provincial park is beside the proposed Gabriola Passage marine protected area, across from from Drumbeg Provincial Park on Gabriola Island.

GREEN LEGACIES

A new Donor's Guide for British Columbia, Green Legacies, was published this spring and includes everything the financial advisor and potential donor need to know about gifts to conserve British Columbia's ecology. Federal and provincial governments helped fund the project in partnership with some of BC's leading conser-vation organizations and foundations.

Among those featured in the guide is kayak manufacturer Barry Bezaire of Extreme Interface who has donated a raffle kayak as a fundraiser to the Georgia Strait Alliance for the past several years.

Legacies - whether monetary, real estate or other assets - could mean the difference between losing critical wildlife habitat forever, or preserving and rehabilitating it.

Copies of the Guide are available for $8 (including GST) by contacting the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund at 1-800-387-9853 ext. 4, or greenlegacies@stewardshipcentre.bc.ca. A web version is www.stewardshipcentre.bc.ca/greenlegacies.

THRIFTY'S HAS ECO-SALMON

The BC food retail chain Thrifty Foods is now offering salmon raised in a land-based system, the only "closed containment" system in the province. All the rest of BC's farmed salmon are raised in open net pens in the ocean. Thrifty's customers are being supplied with farmed Pacific chinook and coho salmon raised in concrete tanks at Cedar, north of Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. The grocery chain is buying all the product produced by Agrimarine Industries and says that demand has been strong for what it's calling "eco-salmon". Environmentalists say this is a good first step, though more is needed before they can feel the system is fully safe. For example, the company needs to take steps to treat wastewater going into the sea. For more info, contact Lynn Hunter, Fisheries and Aquaculture Specialist, David Suzuki Foundation, hunterlynn@shaw.ca