“MY wastewater?!?”, you might be thinking. It’s true. Anything that runs down the drains of your sinks, showers, washing machines, dishwashers and toilets becomes wastewater. Personal and industrial use of items that contain complex, and sometimes harmful, chemicals means that wastewater contains a myriad of compounds including plastics, heavy metals, nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, … Continue reading
Read more »Posts Tagged: Salmon
Where salmon and shipyards are neighbours
What North Vancouver’s MacKay creek can teach us about urban shorelines What gets two dozen environmentalists, scientists and planners to cram into a school bus on a cold and rainy Saturday morning? The prospect of exploring the latest urban stream restorations in the city, of course! You would be forgiven for considering this field trip … Continue reading
Read more »Orcas in trouble: gov’t plan for inaction
Ever since early 2012 when the federal court made its final ruling mandating that the federal government protect resident orcas critical habitat, we’ve been waiting for the action plan that would clearly lay out how we would act to protect our endangered southern resident orcas and their habitat. With the release last month of the … Continue reading
Read more »BC Election results: making sense of the tea leaves
It’s been more than a day since the results of the BC election were finalized and I’m still trying to read the tea leaves of what British Columbians have told us. The results of the election are – to say the least – puzzling. At a time when we need action on climate change, no … Continue reading
Read more »Vancouver Island Closed Containment Facility Open for Business!
I had the remarkable experience a couple of weeks ago of witnessing the last stages of construction of a home-grown, land-based, recirculating closed containment salmon farm. The facility is being built to prove the economic good sense of growing salmon in a way that doesn’t threaten the survival of wild salmon. Namgis Nation is now … Continue reading
Read more »Down at the Dock: Clean Marine BC sees real, positive results!
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce on Perspectives on the Marine Economy. My talk focused on our Clean Marine BC green boating and marina eco-certification program, and how a clean marine environment is critical to a healthy coastal economy here in BC. Alongside teachers and politicians, the room … Continue reading
Read more »Government agencies failing to protect wild salmon
Recent reports of the presence of the deadly ISA virus in B.C. wild salmon seem to have alarmed everyone except those meant to be taking care of the wild salmon. Rather than taking immediate measures to determine the extent of this threat, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency leaped … Continue reading
Read more »Reflections on the Cohen Inquiry into Decline of Fraser River Sockeye
Fraser River Sockeye – photo by Michelle Young Hearings for the Cohen Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River have come to an end after a year – and what a year it was. This Inquiry was struck by the federal government following the 2009 collapse of Fraser River Sockeye. The … Continue reading
Read more »A Personal Story to Inspire Change
A Personal Story to Inspire Change “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”Leo Tolstoy While I have only been with the Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) for a short time, I have been inspired by what individual people can do and how like minded people can change the way we … Continue reading
Read more »Salmon farming industry puts wild salmon at increased risk by reactivating farm along Wild Salmon Narrows migration route
Fifty-five organizations and thousands of concerned citizens have been calling for the removal of five salmon farms along Okisollo and Hoskyn Channels on the north and east side of Quadra Island, a critical Fraser River sockeye migration route. This call was supported by the conclusions of a think tank of scientists who convened at Simon … Continue reading
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