In an effort to help maintain coastal British Columbia’s rich marine ecosystem, Pacific Yachting invites recreational boaters to participate in an exciting new project. Each year, tens of thousands of pleasure craft cruise the waters between Juan de Fuca Strait and Dixon Entrance. As a group, recreational boaters anchor, moor or transit most of B.C.’s 27,000 kilometres of coastline, making them an ideal resource for information on the health of the region. As such, boaters are uniquely qualified to witness first hand—and over a huge geographical area—the condition of and changes to our marine ecosystem.

Seeing the potential of this group to collect data, Pacific Yachting is spearheading the project entitled The Recreational Boater’s Environmental Report Card, eliciting the participation of a broad swath of recreational boaters and presenting the information and findings to the public at large.

Although numerous organizations already exist and are doing excellent work to help protect the environment, many are agenda-driven and, as such, are mandated to focus their efforts on specific areas of interest. With our efforts, on the other hand, the only goal is to provide real, verifiable and unbiased data from boaters who have a genuine interest in ensuring our relatively pristine marine waters remains that way for ourselves, our children and for future generations. And through the information that is collected, areas of concern can be identified so that efforts can be adapted and focused to address those specific problems.

The Recreational Boater’s Environmental Report Card project invites your participation. Together we can help keep our coast beautiful and clean—for many generations to come.

Peter A. Robson, Editor
Pacific Yachting magazine 

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