Media Releases

PRINCE RUPERT - Criticism of the federal government’s review of theEnbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal is building. Nineteen environmental and community organizations have written to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency expressing concern that the terms of reference for the review ignore climate change, tar sands expansion and the question of allowing oil tankers on B.C.'s North Coast.



SOINTULA, B.C. – Just days after the Norwegian government reported a 380 percent increase in escapes from open net-cage fish farms over this time last year, Marine Harvest Canada has admitted to another mass escape of approximately 40,000 farmed salmon in the beleaguered Broughton Archipelago.

VANCOUVER, SOINTULA, B.C. - Very quietly, with no announcement and no media release, the Government of British Columbia has just relinquished regulatory control of marine fin-fish aquaculture in B.C., handing over jurisdiction to the federal government. Living Oceans Society regards the Province’s abdication as an opportunity for significant change and progress on sustainable aquaculture. 



VANCOUVER – A coalition of community and conservation groups has called on Ottawa to establish a full public inquiry to look into the far-reaching effects of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. Enbridge proposes to build twin pipelines carrying crude oil and condensate, a toxic petroleum product, across 1000 rivers and streams BC from the Alberta tar sands to the coast at Kitimat, where massive super tankers would carry oil through dangerous inside coastal waters to Asian markets.

VANCOUVER – In the midst of a lawsuit launched by environmental groups, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has just granted permission for a controversial American research ship to conduct seismic blasting in a Canadian marine protected area. The Minister granted this permit at the close of business hours Friday night, despite an ongoing lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the legality of the permit on the basis that the ship will violate Canadian environmental laws.



VANCOUVER – Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to stop seismic blasting by an American research vessel that threatens endangered whales in a Canadian marine protected area. 



Sointula and Campbell River - Preliminary results from the joint Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) and Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) sea lice monitoring program in the Broughton Archipelago indicate that sea lice levels in 2009 on juvenile pink and chum salmon migrating through the region are lower than in recent years.

Vancouver -- Living Oceans Society’s Finding Coral Expedition arrived back in Vancouver on June 22 after a successful two week study of deep sea corals off the coast of British Columbia. The research team of international scientists dove in single person submarines at six different dive sites in Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait, and Dixon Entrance. At five of the sites the team identified deep sea corals and many other creatures. 

Vancouver, B.C. – Five open net-cage salmon farms must be permanently removed from a salmon migration route in the northern Georgia Strait in order to protect thousands of juvenile salmon from sea lice and other potentially fatal diseases, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform said Tuesday. “The Wild Salmon Narrows, along the east and north side of Quadra Island, is a significant migration route for juvenile wild salmon from local rivers, the Fraser River, and in all likelihood, Washington and Oregon runs as well,” says Ruby Berry of Georgia Strait Alliance.