Join Us

Send to a friend

Fill in the form below and click on the "send" button to e-mail a link to this content.

You can send to UP TO FIVE e-mail addresses by separating them with commas.

Recipient e-mail *
Your name *
Your e-mail *

* required

Robson Bight Ecological Reserve

In August 2008, a barge carrying logging equipment and a diesel fuel truck tipped its load into Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, east of Vancouver Island, B.C. The accident resulted in a diesel spill extending over 14 kilometres in Johnstone Strait, an area frequented by a threatened resident orca population.

An underwater investigation revealed that the diesel fuel truck was resting upright and intact on the seafloor with about 10,000 litres of diesel fuel still inside, facing the potential for corrosion by the seawater and a massive leak into the surrounding environment.

After much deliberation and pressure from Greenpeace, Living Oceans Society and other concerned whale organizations, the government of Canada and British Columbia announced on April 18th that they would perform a joint salvage operation of the fuel-laden wreckage. However, while the clean-up decision was welcomed, a tedious governmental planning process has left the orcas that are returning to the area in June at risk of further contamination, as the actual clean-up date has not been set. To read more about the events that have taken place in Robson Bight and to find out the latest news on the governments plans to salvage the wreckage, see below.

Robson Bight Updates

Enlarge Image

Robson Bight Salvage Operation a Success

The long awaited salvage operation of the wreckage in Robson Bight Ecological Reserve was completed on Tuesday, providing hope that B.C.’s resident orcas no longer face the threat of another spill from a sunken truck laden with diesel fuel.

Enlarge Image

Support action and leadership on global warming!

The Harper government released an economic update last week that had no vision for the future of our environment.

There was no economic stimulus that would create a green economy and green jobs.

Worse still, at the United Nations climate change conference that has begun in Poznan, Poland, the Harper government is clearly not prepared to join the world and take real action on global warming.

Enlarge Image

Feds sued over refusal to protect resident killer whales

Environmental groups across Canada, including Greenpeace, hit the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) with a lawsuit today. Filed by lawyers with Ecojustice, the lawsuit alleges that DFO has failed to legally protect critical habitat of BC's most iconic marine mammals: the endangered Southern Resident and threatened Northern Resident Killer Whales.

Previous Page - Next Page