| | British Columbia’s Coastal Environment: 2006 |
| | 5,92 | | MB |
| | 335 | | stron |
| | 6411 | | ID | Environment Canada |
| | 2006 | | rok |
| | Table of Contents |
| | Acknowledgements.ii |
| | Executive Summaryvii |
| | 1. Population and Economic Activity1 |
| | INTRODUCTION2 |
| | INDICATORS12 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Rate of change of selected land uses in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, |
| | 1986 to 2002.12 |
| | 2. Key Indicator: Proportion of BC coastal population served by municipal wastewater treatment21 |
| | 3. Secondary Indicator: Trends in shellfish closures due to sewage contamination25 |
| | 4. Key Indicator: Trends in density of marine traffic.26 |
| | 5. Secondary Indicator: Marine pollution reports by vessel traffic service zone.32 |
| | 6. Key Indicator: Economic and conservation tenures in the intertidal areas of BC estuaries35 |
| | 7. Secondary Indicator: Impact of nutrient loads from marine finfish farms in BC.41 |
| | 8. Key Indicator: Land cover status of BC’s coastal forests.48 |
| | 9. Secondary Indicator: Trends in three land-use measures in 55 watersheds of the Campbell River |
| | Forest District54 |
| | WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE ENVIRONMENT?59 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT?.60 |
| | WHAT YOU CAN DO.67 |
| | References.68 |
| | 2. Climate Change.77 |
| | BACKGROUND78 |
| | INDICATORS83 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Long-term trends in air temperature.83 |
| | 2. Secondary Indicator: Long-term trends in precipitation.87 |
| | 3. Secondary Indicator: Coastal ocean temperature90 |
| | 4. Secondary Indicator: Sea level on the British Columbia coast.95 |
| | WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE ENVIRONMENT?100 |
| | WHY IS CLIMATE CHANGE HAPPENING?101 |
| | WHY IS CLIMATE CHANGE IMPORTANT?103 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?104 |
| | WHAT CAN YOU DO?.106 |
| | References.108 |
| | iv British Columbia’s Coastal Environment: 2006 |
| | 3. Industrial Contaminants111 |
| | BACKGROUND112 |
| | INDICATORS122 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Trends in dioxin and furan levels in pulp and paper mill effluent, sediments, and |
| | Dungeness crab tissues.122 |
| | 2. Secondary Indicator: Long-term trends in deposition of pollutants (PCBs, dioxins and furans, |
| | PAHs, and mercury) in sediments on the BC coast.128 |
| | 3. Secondary Indicator: Clean-up of contaminated sites in BC134 |
| | 4. Key Indicator: Persistent organic pollutants in tissues of marine mammals on the BC coast.136 |
| | 5. Secondary Indicator: Long-term trends in persistent organic pollutants in great blue heron and |
| | cormorant eggs.143 |
| | WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE ENVIRONMENT?149 |
| | WHY IS IT HAPPENING?150 |
| | WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?.151 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT INDUSTRIAL CONTAMINANTS?151 |
| | WHAT CAN YOU DO?.152 |
| | References.154 |
| | 4. Ecosystem Protection163 |
| | BACKGROUND164 |
| | INDICATORS169 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Number, area, and size of protected areas on the BC coast.169 |
| | 2. Key Indicator: Proportion of coastal terrestrial and marine ecosections that are protected.174 |
| | 3. Secondary Indicator: Stressors in protected areas of coastal BC181 |
| | 4. Key Indicator: Proportion of ecologically intact land within protected areas in coastal BC185 |
| | 5. Secondary Indicator: Proportion of ecologically intact marine habitat within protected areas along |
| | the BC coast189 |
| | HOW EFFECTIVE IS ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION IN COASTAL BC.?193 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE TO PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS?.195 |
| | WHAT CAN YOU DO?.198 |
| | References.198 |
| | Appendix 1: Ecoprovinces and ecoregions of British Columbia204 |
| | Appendix 2: Ecoprovinces and ecosections of British Columbia.205 |
| | 5. Biodiversity207 |
| | BACKGROUND208 |
| | INDICATORS212 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Changes in the conservation status of threatened and endangered vertebrates of |
| | the BC coast212 |
| | 2. Secondary Indicator: Trends in abundance of killer whale populations along the BC coast217 |
| | 3. Secondary Indicator: Observed abundance of coastal waterbirds221 |
| | 4. Key Indicator: Number of alien species, by group, in coastal BC223 |
| | 5. Secondary Indicator: Change in area of sensitive ecosystems on eastern Vancouver Island and |
| | the Gulf Islands.229 |
| | 6. Key Indicator: Progress toward completing recovery strategies for species at risk in BC233 |
| | WHAT IS HAPPENING TO COASTAL BIODIVERSITY?238 |
| | WHY IS IT HAPPENING?239 |
| | WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?.240 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT?.241 |
| | WHAT CAN YOU DO?.244 |
| | References.245 |
| | 6. Fisheries.257 |
| | BACKGROUND258 |
| | INDICATORS261 |
| | 1. Key Indicator: Proportion of salmonid populations that are classed as healthy, at moderate to |
| | high risk of extinction, or extinct261 |
| | 2. Secondary Indicator: Current outlook of managed salmon stocks in BC.268 |
| | Supplementary Information: Outlooks for stocks of groundfish, pelagic fish, and marine |
| | invertebrates in BC.274 |
| | 4. Secondary Indicator: Change in trophic level of marine catch in Canadian Pacific fisheries.283 |
| | 5. Key Indicator: Estimated trends in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) catch since 1950 in |
| | West Coast fisheries.288 |
| | 6. Secondary Indicator: Trends in discards in trawl fisheries since the introduction of mandatory |
| | observer coverage297 |
| | WHAT IS THE STATE OF BC FISHERIES?.301 |
| | WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT?.303 |
| | WHAT CAN YOU DO?.304 |
| | References.305 |
| | Glossary315 |