DIRECTLY AFFECTED
| TABLE 2 – Issue 8: The potential environmental and socio-economic effects of increased marine shipping. |
| Vancouver is my home. My parents grew up here, I grew up here, and I continue to choose to make it my home. It is part of who I am. Who I am, and why I continue to make Vancouver home is inseparably bound up in the natural beauty of the city, particularly the beaches. As a child, I swam at Spanish Banks. As a teenager, and ever since, whenever I have something on my mind, I walk on the beach, often at Kitsilano. Like many Vancouverites, I make a beeline for the beach to soak up the sun whenever it shines. I bring my out-of-town visitors to the beach. When at UBC, I de-stress by walking home along the beach–often all the way from UBC to Jericho–catching the sunset as I go. On weekends I exercise by running or biking along the beach, perhaps along the Stanley Park seawall. In summers I picnic on the beach with friends and family. My husband and I canoe off the beach, and catch and eat crabs from Burrard Inlet. I hope my children will be able to enjoy the beach as I have. A threat to the beach–such as that posed by a million litres of oil spilled from a tanker–is a direct threat to my lifestyle, my identity, and my emotional and spiritual well-being. |
| I am representing the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC as an executive Member and owner operator of an Adventure Company in the Gulf Islands or 23 years, Island Escapades. Economically the Sea Kayak Industry brings in over 35 million dollars of direct revenue to the southern British Columbia and Spinoff revenue in the tourism field triple that value. As certified guides we understand the pulse of this marine environment and any oil spill plus increase tanker traffic will have direct and indirect influences on tourism jobs, and direct economic deterrence to our businesses and the Kayaking Industry as a whole. British Columbia’s Gulf Islands is known as the Galapagos of Canada, and increasing tanker traffic will affect not only the wildlife that we view but detract our potential Eco Tourism clients from coming to this region. The threats to resident and transient Orcas pods that are attracted to this area are immense and certain, their movements and habits will be affected by the oil tankers and thus influence other marine mammal habits and habitat; directly effecting our industry. Soft invertebrate viewing will be tragically affected by an oil spill and increased tanker traffic along with bird life that attracts a large focus group of clients. The Sea Kayak Guides Alliance has operated for 20 years and represents 300 active members/guides and 200 presently working towards certification within the Kayaking Industry. Our mission statement is to establish, promote and maintain high standards of sea kayaking safety, conduct, and representation through an alliance of professionals. The alliance will be integral in ensuring a high quality of sea kayaking environment for the benefit of all. By increasing the Kinder Morgan Project the effects will be detrimental to our members and threaten our livelihood and that of our employees and families. We understand the balance of nature in our business and count on this balance being healthy – allowing this expansion is in direct conflict with our foundations and will hurt a critical Eco-Tourism industry in BC. |
| I am a retired teacher who came to the Gulf Islands for the lifestyle, the ocean’s bounty, the healthy water, the cleaner air and the marine life. With this twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline will come so many more tankers travelling through the Gulf Islands, my home. The inevitable spill will completely destroy the marine life in the Salish Sea. No matter the extent of the clean up the Salish Sea and the land will be forever devastated. With this increase of tanker traffic will come the increased chances of marine life destruction, fishing boat accidents, collisions with The J-Pod whales and the transient whales, with pleasure crafts and sailboats. Economic development at the expense of an oil tanker accident in the ocean’s of this valuable and beautiful coast are unacceptable to me and hundreds of thousands of other British Columbians. Tourism of these islands and this province will plummet with tankers coming through the Salish Sea. Needless to say I am not in favour of this proposal and I would hope that he NEB with listen to the concerns of the public and those who will be most affected by this proposal. |