Press Release
September 27, 2004
CPAWS announces winner of Gulf Islands Ocean Odyssey Colouring Contest
Hanna Schmidt loves the ocean because it's "beautiful and nice." This October the seven year old North Saanich resident and winner of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's Gulf Islands Ocean Odyssey Colouring Contest will get to explore the ocean around the Gulf Islands with local community leaders.
CPAWS has planned three boat and diving trips in the Southern Strait of Georgia October 2-3, 2004. The trip will feature divers exploring the world below the surface with cameras feeding live footage to screens on board the boat. Passengers, including community leaders, business owners, conservationists, First Nations representatives, educators, and politicians, will get a rare glimpse of the underwater ecosystems of the Strait, and will be able to discuss what they are seeing with a biologist.
"The purpose of the weekend is to raise awareness of the Parks Canada's proposed Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area," says Sabine Jessen, Conservation Director of CPAWS-BC, "and to bring a diverse array of interested locals and community leaders together in an informal setting to discuss what a marine protected area will mean for them."
Parks Canada NMCAs are designed to include fully protected reserves in combination with ecologically based zoning to accommodate a spectrum of human activities under a single integrated management plan. Public consultations on the Southern Strait of Georgia NMCA are set to begin this fall.
CPAWS is a national non-profit organization that promotes the establishment interconnected networks of parks and wilderness areas and works to make sure that nature comes first in their management. It has played a lead role in protecting over 40 million hectares in Canada's most treasured wild places
The British Columbia Chapter of CPAWS is a founding member of the NMCA Coalition - a non-government body of conservancy groups, scientists, and stakeholders working to support and strengthen efforts to protect the marine environment of the Southern Strait of Georgia through the establishment of a National Marine Conservation Area.
"We hope that these boat trips will inspire people to participate in the NMCA feasibility study process," says Jodi Stark, marine campaign coordinator for CPAWS and project leader for the boat tours, "and to keep learning about how a marine protected area can benefit local communities."
The colouring contest was designed as a way to involve young residents in the project.
"Kids have such great energy," says Stark. "We look forward to having Hanna and her family on board."
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Contact
Karen Blinkhorn
Communications Intern
Tel: 604-685-7445
Cell: 778-772-5402
CPAWS - British Columbia Chapter