Deep Rising
Crimson anemone, Bowie Seamount, Pacific Ocean © Neil McDaniel / WWF-Canada
Protecting a Sunken Marine Treasure
Strange oasis in the desert sea
| Interesting fact: Bowie Seamount is important to creatures, like whales and seabirds, which use it like a 'roadside diner' during their annual migrations. Migratory paths of some seabirds in the North Pacific may be based on the availability of feeding stations like these. |
Bowie Seamount — swirling with fish in the middle of a relatively empty ocean — must seem like a mirage on which to feast to travelling creatures.
Not only a strange sight, it's a strange concept: countless creatures cling to this mountain in the middle of the open ocean. How did they get there? Pitted against predators and strong currents, how do these species survive?
Bowie's unexplored world can keep its secrets
Someday, it would be great to solve some of Bowie's mysteries. Send down the submersibles! Count the creatures and document the cliffs and crannies. Study the water paths and try to figure out the chain of life. It's a tempting research project — one for an enterprising biologist of the future.
But for now, we need more protected areas like Bowie Seamount. A network of marine protected areas remains a vital part of conserving B.C.'s full range of marine diversity.
| Interesting fact: Canada protected Bowie Seamount in 2008. That means no trawling, or other industrial commercial fishing only sustainable fishing and only in some areas of the seamount chain. |
We need more Marine Protected Areas!
A marine protected area, or "MPA," is like a park on the ocean. Some human activity is allowed, but only if it doesn't hurt the marine environment. Creating an MPA around Bowie and its underwater chain of mountains was an important conservation achievement. But the Bowie MPA is only one of two such places in B.C. – the other is a very small MPA created to protected the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents well off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.
It's important to create a network of these MPAs on the B.C. coast. We need to create healthy marine areas all along the coast, to help restock coastal waters and feed the creatures that migrate along our coast.
The federal government promised this comprehensive network of MPAs in 2002. It's time it was completed.
Make your voice heard!
Please contact a politician about the importance of B.C.'s marine environments. Find out how! Thank you for your help.
Helpful links
CPAWS-BC: Bowie Seamount
WWF-Canada: Pacific Marine Protected Areas