Oceans Online

Seismic Surveys Harmful to Marine Mammals

From June–August 2004, aboard the research vessel Achiever, Raincoast staff conducted the first systematic survey of cetaceans on the BC coast. By undertaking this inventory of one of the most productive and diverse areas ever studied, Raincoast hopes to know how many animals of each species there are, where they live, and how their numbers change seasonally. This knowledge will be critical in informing the current debate on coastal oil and gas exploration in BC. Have your say on Seismic Testing! Click here.

Critical areas left out of Parks Canada’s National Marine Conservation Area feasibility study

After several years of delays and false starts, Parks Canada is set to begin a feasibility study process for the proposed Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA). There’s just one problem — the study area designated for the Parks Canada feasibility study is too small and excludes the important waters up to and around Gabriola Island. Let Parks Canada know what you think about their reduced study area for the Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area — Click Here!

Help Stop Offshore Oil & Gas!

Presently there is a moratorium in place prohibiting oil companies such as Shell, Exxon, and Chevron from exploring for oil, but the provincial government is working hard to get the moratorium lifted.

Click here to write a letter to your newspaper about offshore oil and gas.

Help stop dumping of raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean!

As BC looks to welcome the world for the Olympics in 2010, we must bring its treatment of sewage up to international standards. In particular, the Provincial Capital of Victoria must put in place the infrastructure needed to have secondary treatment, or better, for its sewage by 2010. Victoria remains the only major centre on the west coast of North America to ignore its responsibility for sewage treatment, and continues to dump raw sewage, and all the toxic chemicals it contains, into our oceans. Let’s take responsibility for sewage — Click here to take action!

Send a free fax to Safeway telling them you won’t buy farmed salmon!

Salmon farms that sit open in the ocean are a disaster for the future of wild salmon in BC. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that sea lice from salmon farms kill young wild salmon as they migrate to sea, resulting in up to 99% collapse of wild salmon in some streams. Indeed, sea lice are a problem wherever open net cage salmon farms exist in the world. Take action now to help us move closer to sustainable solutions for protecting wild salmon from harmful fish farming practices.

Suport Sustainable Fisheries!

The coral forests and sponges reefs of B.C.’s deep sea represent crucial habitat, acting as a place of refuge, a spawning and nursery area, and providing food and shelter for many fish and non-fish species. We must not find ourselves in the position of other nations that allowed bottom trawling to destroy once-abundant fishing grounds.

Click here to write a letter to your newspaper about bottom trawling.