Dick Beamish

I will focus on the Strait of Georgia. The Salish Sea is a nice social tool particularly for the general public, but your questions also relate to specific issues for the Strait of Georgia. As you probably know, the Strait of Georgia is one of the most productive ocean ecosystems in the world. The productivity basically relates to three things, sunshine, Fraser River flows and offshore deeper water nitrates. These probably will not change that much but there will be changes in the carrying capacity for the various species as the ecosystem responds to physical and chemical changes, some of which are associated with greenhouse gas production. The greatest threat to the Salish Sea and the Strait of Georgia continues to be our poor understanding of the mechanisms affecting the associations among the species. This may not be what many people would think as a major threat, but it is this information that we need to be responsible stewards in the future and it is the most difficult to deal with. We all learned in school that ecosystems change meaning that the capacity to support the myriad of species changes. Responsible stewardship requires that we correctly identify the reasons for future changes. Culturally, we need to recognize that the Salish Sea is a component of our complex existence. This sounds existential and it is. One example is understanding the reasons for declining Chinook salmon productivity which we know is generally coast wide and our response to the declines.