The Salish Sea is in sore need of a holistic, multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary response to current and emerging environmental threats, according to a new report by the Salish Sea Institute.
B次元官网网址淭he Salish Sea is compromised by the cumulative impacts of global climate change, regional urbanization and a growing population and intensive human use and abuse across the ecosystem over the last two centuries,B次元官网网址� says the authors of B次元官网网址淪tate of the Salish SeaB次元官网网址� in Bellingham, Wa.
The Salish Sea stretches from the Pacific Ocean along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound and is fed by a network of rivers and contributing watersheds reaching up thousands of metres to prominent peaks in the Coast, Cascade, Olympic and Vancouver Island ranges. The term Salish Sea has risen to more prominent use in recent years and is officially recognized by geographic naming boards in Washington State and British Columbia as well as the U.S. and Canadian federal governments.
The Campbell River area marks the northwestern edge of the Salish Sea bioregion.
B次元官网网址淚t is a biologically-diverse inland international sea that is surrounded by mountainous watersheds of spectacular beauty,B次元官网网址� the report says.
Indigenous peoples have lived along the shores of the sea since time immemorial and today the region is home to almost nine million people and growing.
In the report, more than 20 authors and contributors illustrate how the ecosystem is under relentless pressure from an accelerating convergence of global and local environmental stressors and the cumulative impacts of 150 years of development and alteration of our watersheds and seascape.
B次元官网网址淥ur expanding human footprint brings with it urbanization and ensuing impacts on the seascape as ports become busier, underwater habitats become noisier, natural shorelines give way to hardened infrastructure and watersheds are converted from native forests to housing developments, industrial parks and other impervious surfaces,B次元官网网址� the reportB次元官网网址檚 executive summary says. B次元官网网址淎t the same time, global climate change is producing profound impacts on the Salish Sea as sea level rise threatens low lying areas and as ocean acidification and other changes threaten the intricacies of marine life.B次元官网网址�
RELATED:
Over time, government agencies and others around the Salish Sea have implemented numerous management programs, policies and regulations to protect the ecosystem, the report says. But ecosystem decline has outpaced restoration and protection.
Managing the state of the sea is complicated by layers of laws, treaties, regulations and jurisdictions but the cost of continuing as business as usual is high B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渟taggeringB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� the report says.
B次元官网网址淚t is unlikely that we will fully reverse the legacies or urbanization and industrial impacts to the Salish Sea but it is possible to improve conditions from what they are today,B次元官网网址� the report says.
It will take multi-faceted and collaborative approaches to regenerate the Salish Sea that will require sufficient political will, public support and systemic changes.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a big task, the report indicates.
B次元官网网址淔undamental alteration of human-environment relationships, coupled with new and ambitious goals, are needed to change the arc of anthropogenic impacts,B次元官网网址� the report says.
RELATED:
editor@campbellrivermirror.com
Like us on and follow us on
