I recently attended an interesting presentation hosted by the Port of Vancouver at their Community Office in Delta.
The topic was “who is keeping our waters safe”. Guest speakers Geoffrey Denman, Search and Rescue Program Exercise and Liaison Officer and Art Statham, Superintendent, Marine Communication and Traffic Services, Western Region provided some really great information and stories about what goes into keeping our coastal waters safe. Some of the volunteers from Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station #8 Delta were on hand with a display as well.
There is a lot going on in and around our marine environment to keep people, wildlife and property safe. There are boats and aircraft that patrol our waters looking for problems and performing search and rescue operations. Then there is all the radio communications between the marine traffic centre in Victoria and vessels using our waters to keep traffic moving smoothly and to help facilitate search and rescue. This is in addition to the work done to maintain buoys, navigation equipment, community outreach and providing boating safety education to schools, yacht clubs and the general public.
Did you know?
- There are 27 manned light stations along the BC coast.
- Delta Station 8 is responsible for 450 square miles of BC waters
- The Canadian Coast Guard has responsibilities that reach out past the 12 nautical mile mark (territorial waters) to the 200 nautical mile mark (Exclusive Economic Zone).
- The Canadian Coast Guard saves an average of 10 lives per day
More information about the Canadian Coast Guard is available at their website:
http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/Home
More information about Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station #8 Delta:
http://rcmsar.com/rescue-stations/southern-region/delta/
More information about the Port of Vancouver:
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