Karen Wristen takes over the helm of the Living Oceans Society just when it's headed into turbulent waters. The non-profit society is the largest Canadian organization that focuses exclusively on marine conservation it has a history of working with the government to create domestic legislation. But this climate of cooperation changed when the government pushed ahead with the Enbridge pipeline project. And, in a time that could see an exponential increase in tanker traffic, the oils spill response team has been drastically reduced. As Karen Wristen replaces Jennifer Lash as the executive director of Living Oceans Society, she says the organization has been forced into an "adversarial position."
"We have spent a huge amount of time and drawn a huge amount of foreign investment to get First Nations, industry leaders, governments of all levels and environmental groups to sit down together and negotiate. We've produced good plans as a basis for developing good policy," Wristen said. "We supported the whole process and we've created maps so that people can see what they are planning for." All this time and money coming mainly from American foundations was channeled to help the Canadian Government plan for a healthy ocean and meet commitments it made internationally, says Wristen, "The Oceans Act in Canada was enacted to meet an international agreement Canada made about the health of oceans generally and conserving fish stock in particular."
Without the society's involvement, the implementation could have been lagging for 10 years or longer, Wristen guesses. "We secured the funding, helped convene the tables and have injected hundreds of thousands of dollars into a process that the government should have paid for," she said, adding that last fall, the process was scrapped.
"There should not be any oil tankers in our marine protected areas," Wristen says. "But the government is intent on making sure the Enbridge pipeline will be built." This puts the interests of First Nations groups, commercial fishermen and coastal communities at risk and [Living Ocean's] investment was for nothing, according to Wristen. "We'll need to move on to a different way of engagement," she says. "This kind of legislation leaves us with very few avenues to cooperate. It puts us in an adversarial position that wasn't our choice."
It's solutions Living Oceans cares about, says Wristen but adds that it's only possible to "work with a mature and responsible government that is actually interested in solutions."
The task on Wristen's desk will be raising awareness about the Northern Gateway project and tanker issue. "We'll work in coastal communities around BC to let people know what to expect," she says. "We've done a lot of good work already. We have expert reports that deal with marine safety and ecosystems protection and we've built an oil spill model that is running on our website."
The model is a response to the government's decision to disband local oil spill response teams. "The reason given by the minister of environment is cost saving," Wristen says. "But without the team to coordinate local response, there will be no ability to tell responders about local conditions. They won't know where the clam beaches are or where the salmon spawn. Without the local knowledge, the navigational risk to a ship in distress is huge."
Wristen explained that, in order to operate in Canadian waters, a tanker is required to hire a company commissioned to do the clean-up as part of the insurance. "When the spill happens on the central coast, for example, the operator may be dispatched from an urban centre and has no ability to get detailed knowledge of the local environment. Environment Canada had a team made up of representatives from local communities and that has been cut in terms of number of staff. And the office has been relocated to Gatineau." Wristen says that with the potential increase in tanker traffic, oil spill protection is needed more than ever.
"I've been on the board of Living Oceans since 1998 when it first incorporated," Wristen said. "I've seen Jennifer [Lash] build the society into an incredible science-based organization. Now, we'll plan the future differently."
Wristen divides her time between Living Oceans' Vancouver and Sointula offices. The Bowen Island resident has been active on a number of local groups and committees and the new appointment has forced her to give up some of her volunteer work. "I can't keep everything on my plate," she said, adding that she will stay on as the president of Bowen Heritage. "I couldn't give this up just when we're moving ahead with the plan to restore the Davies Orchard cottages."
For her work at Living Oceans, Wristen stresses that the society still pursues avenues of collaboration, for instance with the provincial government. "We'll collaborate wherever we can. It will probably be hard trying to inject some common sense into the federal environmental policy but if you don't believe it's possible, you might as well hang up your gloves and go home."
