Issues in the Strait of Georgia

In 1970, Canada's federal parks branch called Georgia Strait "one of the world's most spectacularly beautiful and ecologically rich areas" close to a population concentration.

Today, Parks Canada calls southern Georgia Strait "the most at-risk natural environment in Canada".

The Strait and its watersheds face serious environmental problems - the bulk of these caused by region's rapid human population growth and the urbanization and development that has come with it.

Our population around the Strait is expected to increase from its current level of about 3 million, to over 4 million by 2020. (If the population of adjacent Puget Sound is factored in, these figures rise to about 7 million today and nearly 10 million by 2020.).

Marine life in our region faces many threats. These include:

• toxic chemicals
• pollution from sewage and stormwater
• oil spills
• destruction of critical habitat
• mismanagement of fisheries and marine resources
• impacts from netcage salmon farming

and many other impacts.

Georgia Strait is still a biologically rich and beautiful place. It's not too late to turn the tide: if we work together to protect these waters and the life in them, we have a chance to turn around the damage that’s been done and achieve sustainability.

Learn more:

• Check out the many links under "Get Informed".
• The Strait of Georgia Ecosystem Research Initiative