Mayor Meghan Lahti wants the City of Port Moody to designate the intertidal flats and foreshore lands in Port Moody as an Urban Marine Protected Area and also apply for UNESCO Urban Marine Protected Area status. Her motion will be discussed at a council meeting on June 24.
“An urban marine protected area (MPA) is a marine area within or adjacent to an urban center that is legally protected and managed to conserve marine ecosystems and their associated services, while also considering the needs of human populations and activities,” Lahti writes.
The shoreline at the eastern end of Burrard Inlet has been under municipal care since 2002, when Port Moody negotiated a 60-year lease with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. The agreement folded the mudflats into the city’s waterfront park system, linking Rocky Point and Old Orchard parks and giving the municipality direct control over day-to-day management.
Lahti’s notice of motion describes the site as “an important estuarine habitat for salmonids, migratory and overwintering waterfowl and shorebirds, providing a much-needed nutrient-rich biofilm, as well as resting and nesting habitat.” Because the mudflats are sheltered and comprised of soft shoreline sediments, they offer young salmon a place to acclimate to salt water and give shorebirds a proven feeding ground during migration.
If the council endorses the proposal, it would be the first urban Marine Protected Area within a municipal boundary in North America.
The motion outlines several advantages for the city, including stronger environmental branding, new research partnerships, enhanced opportunities for public education, and progress. “Designating this as an Urban Marine Protected Area will come at no cost to the City and will provide much-needed recognition and protection for this important ecosystem and an opportunity for significant stakeholders to get funding for various research and educational purposes,” she writes.
The opportunity exists to have this recognized internationally as well, through applying for UNESCO status in the future.
Support letters attached to the motion come from the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society, the Pacific Wildlife Foundation, Port Authority Environment Director Dr. Andrea MacLeod, and SFU adjunct biology professor Dr. Rob Butler.
What a great idea!
Like many, I’d be interested in knowing what protections would or could be added to those currently available.