Many of the cargo freighters anchoring in BC’s Southern Gulf Islands are waiting to pick up shipments of Canadian grain and metallurgical coal, both of which are important to our national economy. But there’s another group of ships contributing to the anchorage problem that generate almost nothing for the Canadian economy and what’s worse, serve to contradict Canada’s claims of …

Good to hear the Chamber of Shipping of BC highlighting the need to improve Port of Vancouver’s supply chain to reduce anchoring in the Southern Gulf Islands. Mr Lewis Manning touches on many of the ideas South Coast Community Groups are pushing for as well. It’s unfortunate the interview didn’t address the very serious environmental impacts that large anchor chains …

It’s time to introduce the South Coast Ship Watch Alliance. For several years now, Environmentalists and residents of Cowichan Bay, Ladysmith, Saltair and the Southern Gulf islands have been sounding the alarm about bulk freighters anchoring in local waterways. In community after community, independent volunteer groups have been created in response to an increasing onslaught of commercial cargo ships spilling …

Did you know that giant cargo ships park can park for free among BC’s Southern Gulf Islands? It’s true. You may have to pay an arm and a leg to leave your car while you go visit someone in hospital or take in a movie, but a 250 metre, 100,000 tonne bulk cargo freighter can park alongside just about any …

Imagine if huge gravel trucks were arriving early at some out of town quarry and were allowed to park for free for as long as they wanted, right in front of your house, running their engines non stop and shining super bright lights through the night. Local authorities would put a stop to that pretty quickly. That’s not that far …

In May of 2019, the federal government announced a number of measures to address threats to the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population. Among them was the creation of Interim Sanctuary Zones in three key foraging areas, off Pender Island, Saturna Island and a third at Swiftsure Bank on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. In addition to fishery …

As the most powerful agency overseeing Canada’s west coast supply chain, The Port of Vancouver is well placed to take a lead on solving the problem of too many cargo ships spilling over into BC’s Southern Gulf Islands. The good news is that The Port of Vancouver has very laudable goals when it comes to the environment and communities. Their …