B.C.'s North Coast Ocean

B.C.'s North Coast is home to 9,000 year-old sponge reefs, rainforests of giant kelp, playful sea otters and millions of migrating salmon.

From the northern tip of Vancouver Island northwards to Alaska, numerous bays, shores and current-swept passages nurture underwater kelp forests every bit as spectacular as groves of ancient cedar on land. Coral "gardens" create underwater homes where other marine animals can hide, reproduce, feed and grow. In Hecate Strait, 9,000-year-old glass sponge reefs grow five stories high, sheltering 36 species of long-lived rockfish. Every spring, wind-swept islands echo with the voices of thousands of breeding seabirds.

This area was named PNCIMA (prounced "pin-SEE-mah") by the Government of Canada in 2002, which stands for the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area. Sierra Club BC has been an active party in the initiation of a management process that will treat the region as an integrated whole, and consider the needs and interests of all people, animals and plants that both comprise and share our ocean resources.

In December 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Coastal First Nations and DFO to initiate collaborative governance in PNCIMA. The Province of BC has been invited to participate but to date retains status as an observer to the process. This step is the first in fulfilling the obligations of the Oceans Act of 1997 on the Pacific Coast.

Sierra Club BC and other conservation groups are gratified that their recommendation that the marine-use planning process actively engage the people who live, work and play on the North Coast has been initiated. The process promises to bring the best available science to the table to inform decisions about the future of this magnificent region.

If done properly, marine planning in PNCIMA will integrate the needs of coastal industries, businesses and communities that use the ocean and its resources. The eventual designation of a network of Marine Protected Areas will improve ocean health generally, mitigate climate change by the sequestration of 'Blue Carbon' and improve the productivity of fisheries. These are key strategies in maintaining ecosystem resilience in the face of oncoming climate effects.