New science program to study areas of high vessel traffic

Vancouver, BC – Canada’s coasts are home to abundant fisheries, support the livelihoods of Indigenous and coastal communities, and attract tourism. Our coasts also enable responsible shipping of our goods to and from overseas.

The Government of Canada is taking concrete action, under the Oceans Protection Plan, to assess how human activities may impact our marine ecosystems over time.

Today, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and Member of Parliament for Burnaby North-Seymour, Terry Beech, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Member of Parliament for North Vancouver, Jonathan Wilkinson, on behalf of Ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Catherine McKenna, announced that the Government of Canada is implementing a $50.8 million Coastal Environmental Baseline Program to help assess the impacts of human activities on our marine ecosystems.

During the coming years, scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and community partners will collect comprehensive baseline data in six areas of the country where there is existing or potential increasing vessel traffic: Port of Vancouver, BC; Port of Prince Rupert, BC; Lower

St. Lawrence Estuary, QC; Port of Saint John, NB; and Placentia Bay, NL. The sixth area will be located in the Arctic. By studying the current state of these areas, we can better detect changes in the environment and improve our understanding of the effects of human activity on the marine environment over time.

Partnerships with local Indigenous and coastal communities are key to the success of this program. These communities have valuable insights and expertise about their local ecosystems, and we will be seeking their assistance in determining what data will be collected in each area.

The data collected from this program will be used when making decisions that could impact sensitive marine habitat and species.

This announcement was made during the World Environmental Education Congress where Canada officially joined the CleanSeas campaign – a UN initiative to eliminate major sources of marine litter – further solidifying its commitment to keeping our oceans cleaned.

Photo legend: On September 11, 2017, Parliamentary Secretary, Jonathan Wilkinson, UN Secretary General, Elliot Harris, President and CEO of The Vancouver Aquarium, Dr. John Nightingale and Parliamentary Secretary, Terry Beech make important announcements on ocean health.