Oceans, Waterways & Coastlines

The upcoming IMPAC5 conference in Vancouver is an opportunity to chart the path to meet world leaders' promise last month to protect 30 per cent of the planet's land and waters by 2030, says federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray.

Ottawa has to stop letting local port authorities do the heavy lifting in preventing cruise ships from dumping billions of litres of corrosive wastewater along the B.C. coast, environmentalists say.

It's not clear who are the winners and losers in the future of the commercial salmon fishery as Ottawa transforms an industry once the backbone of the coast. But trends suggest those with the deepest pockets will come out on top, industry experts say.

The privately owned Link Island, a biodiversity jewel in the Salish Sea, has been gifted to protect and shelter some of B.C.'s rarest species and ecosystems.