Ship Pollution & Marine Safety

Eighty percent of all goods transported around the world are transported by sea.

Every year, over 10,000 freighters pass through the waters of southern British Columbia, on the way to or from Vancouver, Seattle, or other destinations around the Strait of Georgia and neighbouring Puget Sound. Oil tankers, fuel barges, naval vessels, cruise ships, fish boats, pleasure craft and ferries - all must all share these waters.

Accidents can - and do - happen, often with serious environmental consequences from resulting oil and fuel spills. Marine safety is therefore paramount.

Another ongoing concern is pollution from discharges of bilge water, graywater, sewage, lubricating oil, engine coolants and other contaminants.

In addition, air pollution from commercial ships is a growing problem. Every year, air quality worsens in British Columbia's Lower Mainland - and the primary source of this pollution is not cars, but ships! In Metro Vancouver, ships produce one third of the sulphur dioxide and are the second biggest producer of nitrous oxide.

Learn more:

• An oil spill could be 'catastrophic' for British Columbia killer whales - March 2010
• Modelling ship strike risk to fin, humpback and killer whales in British Columbia- December 2009
• Lighthouse de-staffing on hold - September 2009
• Major Marine Vessel Casualty Risk and Response Preparedness in British Columbia (22 MB) - September 2008 (Living Oceans Society Report, with support from Georgia Strait Alliance)
• Ships & Air Pollution
• Dire Straits: Shipping Accidents in our Waters
• Oil Spill Risk in the Southern Strait
• Barge Blues: Only Questions Remain - A Shipping Accident and its Aftermath
• The Need for a Year-Round Tug de Rescue Network: A Petition and Letter to the Hon. Herb Dhaliwal - July 12, 2001
• Essential Levels of Service: A Submission to the Canadian Coast Guard (1995)
• Lighthouse De-Staffing: A Submission to the Canadian Coast Guard (1995)

See also:

• Spills and Tankers
• Cruise Ships

Other useful links:

• Bluewater Network
• Port of Vancouver
• Fraser River Port Authority
• North Fraser Port Authority
• Nanaimo Port Authority