Media Releases

Sointula, B.C. - What started 10 years ago in a spare bedroom in a small fishing village has grown into a powerful force working to conserve the health Canada's oceans. Living Oceans Society, the brainchild of founder and Executive Director Jennifer Lash, is now Canada's largest marine conservation organization, influencing oceans policies and practices from coast to coast to coast.

OTTAWA ─ A new poll by Nanos Research for Living Oceans Society reveals a high degree of distrust among Canadians with the current federal government’s capacity to balance environmental protection with economic activity.

 “As Canada’s economy faces challenges, the pressure to cut environmental corners will grow,” said Jennifer Lash, Executive Director of Living Oceans Society. “Canadians need a government that we can trust to maintain the right balance between sustainable economic growth and protection for our environment, specifically for our oceans.”



VANCOUVER – Better management is needed to protect the diversity and abundance of marine life off British Columbia’s Pacific North Coast, one of the few places of its kind in the world, according to a publication released today by four conservation groups. 

Sointula, B.C. – Living Oceans Society criticized the provincial government report on salmon farm compliance as missing the point by failing to address the industry’s fundamental problems. Inadequate regulations governing B.C.’s salmon farming industry means that salmon farms’ impact on the environment is not taken into account. 

VANCOUVER-- Living Oceans Society is renewing its call to transition from open net cage salmon farms into closed containment after the July 1 escape of up to 30,000 Atlantic salmon from a Marine Harvest Canada fish farm in Frederick Arm on the Mainland coast 50 km north of Campbell River. The near-harvest sized fish escaped when one of the anchors holding the pens in place apparently slipped into deeper water causing the corner of the net cage to sink for an undetermined time.

VANCOUVER -- Living Oceans Society congratulates the Federal Crown for laying charges against the parties allegedly responsible for last summer’s barge spill in the Robson Bight ecological reserve. Campbell River’s Gowlland Towing Ltd., tug boat master Carl Theodore Strom, and logging contractor/equipment owner Ted LeRoy Trucking Ltd. face a number of pollution related charges and are expected to appear in Provincial Court on July 21.



Vancouver, Sointula, B.C. -- Conservation groups responded today with cautious support for a proposal aimed at providing emergency, interim protection for some wild salmon stocks in the Broughton Archipelago. The groups noted that this action underscores the seriousness of the sea lice situation and supports the need for long term solutions like closed containment systems. 



VANCOUVER – British Columbia environmentalists are applauding legislation recently introduced in Parliament that will protect the province’s North Central Coast from the threats associated with crude oil tanker traffic.

 The private member’s bill – Bill C-571 - was introduced by Catherine Bell, NDP Member of Parliament (Vancouver Island North), on June 18, 2008 and it prohibits oil tankers in the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and the Queen Charlotte Sound. This coastal area is some of the most pristine in B.C., and includes the waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. 



Vancouver, B.C. – The Federal Government has failed to meet the June 8th World Oceans Day deadline to initiate a planning process for BC’s threatened North Coast waters, leading environmental groups said today.