The Emerald Sea of B.C.
Megaptera novaeangliae: Humpback whale fluke © Sylvia EARLE / WWF-Canon
The Beauty and the Bounty
The North Coast of British Columbia is a wild place where land and sea collide. Steller sea lions heave their large bodies onto rocks, bald eagles watch intently from towering trees and grizzly bears splash around as they snatch migrating salmon. The sea sustains the creatures in this world. It's breathtaking.
The federal government calls this area PNCIMA (Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area). We see an Emerald Sea – the colour of the area's deep water.
From this magnificent ocean to the coastal rainforests, the area gleams green. It's a stunning series of emerald ecosystems where the ocean nurtures the land – the fish feed the bears; the marine birds and sea lions rear their young on rocky islands; the sea otters wind themselves in sheltered kelp beds; and the ocean bounty supports the livelihoods and well-being of people on the coast. This world of the Emerald Sea functions beautifully but like all ecosystems, it's vulnerable to activity by humans.
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Emerald Sea — needs nurturing!
B.C.'s Emerald Sea – a relatively untouched marine world – faces an uncertain future. With increasing development, pollution, changing ocean conditions due to global warming, and increased shipping and oil tanker traffic, this lovely green world needs champions. Canada recognizes this need. In 2002, the federal government promised to develop a comprehensive management plan – one with environmental protection measures that aim to minimize impacts on these rich marine ecosystems.
But where is this plan? The delay concerns people who care for the coast and is a sad example of how often marine conservation is shunted to the government's backburner.
Please put B.C.'s Emerald Sea back on the federal agenda. Contact a politician and make your voice heard.
Press "Play" to watch Your Coast, Your Values, Your Vision
Your Coast, Your Values, Your Vision is a story map exploring, through interviews with people who live all along B.C.'s coast, what we value in this region and our concerns about and our hopes for the future of B.C.'s coast.