Shared Environmental Law Centre report Cleaning Up Coles Bay: The Urgent Need to Restore Traditional Shellfish Harvesting Sites of the Pauquachin First Nation. Also shared an accompanying letter from the Chief of the Pauquachin First Nation, asking for provincial government action to clean up the pollution of shellfish at Coles Bay, and develop a coast-wide Healthy Shellfish Initiative. The intended outcome is for the Ministers to follow the recommendations in the report, including:
1. Establish a British Columbia Healthy Shellfish Initiative, in partnership with the federal government. The rehabilitation of Coles Bay should be immediately initiated as a pilot project and model to inform the coast-wide program.
2. Set a provincial goal of recovering and re-opening 80% of closed shellfish beds by 2027. (Modelled on the goal approach of the Puget Sound Partnership)
3. Set up and support a multi-stakeholder partnership-facilitating agency to liaise between First Nations, federal and local governments, and other stakeholders. (Modelled on the Puget Sound Partnership)
4. Legally require that prompt Pollution Identification and Correction measures be taken whenever significant contamination of shellfish is detected. These efforts should be Indigenous led and include Indigenous traditional knowledge, as appropriate.
5. Legally require local multi-party restoration efforts when shellfish beds are closed for harvesting, modelled on the Shellfish Protection Districts operating in Washington State.
6. Support expansion of water-quality testing capacity and frequency to ensure that harvesting continues to be safe, with a priority given to enhance the role of First Nation Guardians and the First Nation Health Authority.
7. Create incentives for water quality improvement and shellfish bed restoration. (e.g., rebates for septic upgrades, sewage connections, etc.)
A preliminary intended outcome was to seek a meeting with the Cabinet Ministers to discuss the above-noted submissions.
The report can be found here: : https://elc.uvic.ca/publications/cleaningupcolesbay-municipalshellfishreport/.
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- Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
- Development or enactment of any regulation, including the enactment of a regulation for the purposes of amending or repealing a regulation
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Conservation, Environment, Fisheries, Health, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
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