Rolling the dice on the Salish Sea

FOCUS MAGAZINE  DECEMBER 2013

BY JUDITH LAVOIE

It was the kind of sparkling day on Haro Strait that lifted the soul and showcased BC’s unique beauty. Against a backdrop of the Gulf Islands and the snowy outline of Mount Baker, a humpback whale surfaced in front of our boat.But, as bright yellow plywood drift cards were tossed into the ocean from Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s research vessel Achiever, it was also a stark reminder of all that could be lost if oil spills into the Salish Sea. Staring into the water as the cards drifted towards land, I found it was too easy to imagine the whale emerging through a sheen of oil…

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Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.