Marine Transportation
Missed Opportunity
Progress in US
An Ocean Forum for Hadia Gwaii
What is Pncima

Pncima Forum 2009 – An Opportunity to Engage
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is busy organizing the first gathering of stakeholders for Pncima scheduled for March 26-27 in Vancouver. Meaningful stakeholder and citizen engagement is crucial to a successful planning process. And so, the key is to ensure that this forum brings together enough of the people from the various sectors to accurately represent the diversity of perspectives, values, interests, and issues.

Please consider participating in this forum. If you or others you know would like to be added to the invitation phone 604-666-2873 or email info@pncima.org
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Unfortunately, no funding has been allocated to support stake-holders’ travel to the Forum. This is a concern to us, as we feel like the success of this event is contingent on the turnout of the relevant people. We are working to determine if there will be a way to help get the right people to the table for this meeting. In the meantime, please help spread the word to anyone that you believe has a stake in the health of the oceans in Pncima and encourage them to get involved.

Marine Transportation Working Group
A Marine Transportation Working Group (MTWG) is being identified as the first working group of the Pncima process. The role of working groups, under the stakeholder engagement section of the MoU states that, “Within the Pncima initiative working groups will be struck to examine specific issues. The purpose of these working groups will be to explore issues and to provide insight and advice.” The MTWG will address the issues of cargo shipping, tanker traffic, cruise ships, and other marine transportation interests. We congratulate DFO and the Coastal First Nations for beginning to work together to address the issues around marine transportation.

However, we recommend that DFO and Coastal First Nations move quickly to create additional working groups that address other issues, as a comprehensive oceans management planning process that addresses just one sector risks undermining the very principles upon which integrated management is based.

Missed Opportunity
On January 27, Stephen Harper’s government missed the opportunity to take the recommendations of many Canadians to conserve and improve the management of our oceans and the industries that operate in Canada’s ocean environments.

Oceans represent an important ecological and economic resource for Canada, generating $23 billion annually. Many communities depend on healthy oceans to support their local economies and so, protecting our valuable coastal and marine resources is economic stimulus. However, Ottawa which is a huge distance from Canada’s coasts, does not appear to understand this connection and so, the 2009 budget contains no direct funding to protect our valuable ocean resources.
While demand for Canada’s ocean resources is steadily increasing, resulting in escalating stress on marine environments, federal government support and the funding needed to protect our oceans has faltered, putting coastal economies at risk.

Canada lags behind as the US moves ahead
Even ex-president George Bush (not known for being much of an environmentalist) recognizes the importance of protecting our oceans. First, he designated one of the world’s largest marine protected areas in Hawaii in 2006. Then, one of Bush’s last actions as US president was to create a series of marine reserves in the di-verse and pristine south Pacific totalling nearly 200,000 square miles, an area almost 20 times larger than all of Canada’s marine protected areas combined!

Continuing with this momentum towards protecting US oceans, President Barack Obama appointed Jane Lubchenco, one of the country’s most prominent marine biologists, to the most influential position in the federal government for oceans, the head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Lubchenco is a conservationist who devoted much of her career to encouraging scientists to become more engaged in public policy debates and has been critical of NOAA for not doing enough to curb overfishing.

In stark contrast to this progress south of the border, the recent Canadian federal budget demonstrates that Mr. Harper is not concerned with protecting Canada’s oceans. Renounced oceans scientist, Jeremy Jackson from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said last week “You know you’re in trouble when George Bush proves to be more of an environmentalist than your Canadian politicians!”.

gaaysiigang – an ocean forum for Haida Gwaii – January 22-24
In the language of the Haida, gaaysiigang refers to the person who sizes up the waves so a boat can get out. This was a very appropriate name for an Oceans Forum on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). As valu-able fish stocks decline and ocean activities increase, this was an opportunity for the communities of Haida Gwaii to come together to size up the waves and ocean conditions they face and to determine how to navigate through them.

Many topics were explored at this forum including fish, fishing, cruise ships, offshore energy, marine educa-tion, shipping and transportation, ecotourism and everything in between. Most importantly however, in the magnificent Haida Heritage Centre, the people of the islands spoke frankly, passionately and straight from the heart about the oceans, its health, its resources and what it means to them individually and culturally.

The meeting was very inviting, inclusive, creative and appropriately local. Many locals came to share their ideas, concerns and love of their ocean. We hope to have the same type of result from the PNCIMA stake-holder forum in March

What is Pncima?
The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA pronounced pin-SEE-ma) includes the waters from Haida Gwaii across to Prince Rupert and down to Campbell River. The ocean is the heart of the region which we call Pncima. Some 35,000 people live and work from the shores of Pncima. The people live in First Nations villages, remote towns, and small cities -- places that are alive with culture and history. These places share a strong sense of identity from their common bond: the waters of Pncima connect them all.

This is an area of high ecological, social, and economic importance that encompasses approximately 88,000 km2. As human population and impacts grow, we need to better manage ocean health and productivity in order to protect the livelihoods of the people of Pncima and their rich social and ecological heritage. The federal gov-ernment has promised an integrated plan for Pncima to be developed with input from people who live and work in the region, a plan to represent all the interests together. Leading scientists and ocean managers all over the world agree that this integrated approach to management is the best way to maximize economic and social benefits from the ocean, while maintaining its ecological health. It’s time to improve our approach to management; time for an integrated plan for Pncima.

Who We Are
The organizations that created PNCIMA Watch include the Living Oceans Society, the David Suzuki Founda-tion, and the Sierra Club, British Columbia. Together these groups are working to inform those who are inter-ested in establishing an integrated management plan for the PNCIMA that improves ocean management and establishes a rigorous conservation plan for the region.

Our organizations are committed to protecting and restoring healthy marine ecosystems in PNCIMA. We be-lieve that the best way to achieve this outcome is to actively engage the people who live, work and play on the North Coast, and to brings the best available science to the table to inform decisions about the future of this magnificent region. Only in this way can we decide how best to use the ocean and its resources sustainably.