The waters of Gibsons Harbour will be busy this March, even if you can’t tell from the surface. Next month, divers with Freedom Diving Systems are donating some time to help clean up the harbour — and community members can pitch in at a beachfront clean up.
Jenny Wright, curator of Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre (NSMEC), said they’re hoping to clean up debris with the help of the Gibsons Landing Harbour Authority. The recovered items will be sorted to divert as much as possible from the landfill.
Anyone is welcome to join the community event at Armours Beach (date still to be determined) to help with collecting debris, and learning about ongoing eelgrass restoration efforts.
The Healthy Harbour Program, in partnership with the Town of Gibsons, looks at managing natural assets. Among the environment of Gibsons Harbour is eelgrass, a vital habitat and carbon sink, that supports other species and protects against erosion. Local eelgrass restoration has included transplants and the creation of a voluntary no anchor zone that came into effect last summer. An upcoming citizen science program being coordinated with Hakai Institute is the Sentinels Light Trap project, where volunteers will collect data on Dungenss crabs. A training session is tentatively scheduled for March 2.
NSMEC is organizing the March event following the recent receipt of a grant from Pacific Salmon Foundation’s (PSF) Community Salmon Program.
On Feb. 9, PSF announced that Paper Excellence gifted $100,000 in grants to community-driven stewardship projects that will protect salmon habitat.
As Pacific salmon face a challenging environment — from habitat loss and the effects of climate change — NSMEC received around $5,800 of the funding for ongoing initiatives and for this community event.
“Many Pacific salmon stocks are in crisis in British Columbia and it is up to everyone to turn this around. Fortunately, Pacific salmon are resilient by nature. They’ve been adapting for millennia. We are taking action to mitigate the impacts of changing conditions and help salmon adapt,” Michael Meneer, CEO and president of PSF, said in the release. “But in order to do so with adequate resources, we rely on support from businesses such as Paper Excellence to ensure these lifeblood species not only endure, but thrive for future generations. We’re salmon first, salmon always – and we don’t go it alone.”
Since 1989, more than 300,000 volunteers have been involved with PSF’s Community Salmon Program to restore salmon and their habitats.
Paper Excellence operates seven mills, including the Howe Sound Pulp & Paper Mill in Port Mellon. The company’s support of PSF is part of the company’s “critical to our commitment to protecting freshwater and marine ecosystems close to home,” Graham Kissack, the vice president of environmental, health and safety for Paper Excellence, said in the press release. He adds the funding will go towards hundreds of local initiatives for salmon protection.
“We strive to continually improve our environmental performance. Our gift to the Pacific Salmon Foundation comes at a time when we are working at our mills to reduce carbon emissions and manufacture innovative forest products,” Kissack said.
More details about NSMEC’s March clean-up event will be shared via gibsonsmarine-ed.org/ and at www.facebook.com/nsmec.
