Georgia Basin and Puget Sound have been the focus of an evolving series of transboundary efforts between the United States and Canada since 1991. Georgia Basin and Puget Sound are part of the Salish Sea on the coast of Washington State and British Columbia. The Salish Sea is one of the largest inland seas in the world.
State and provincial agencies, federal agencies and tribal communities on both sides of the border have developed several initiatives focused on promoting an open dialogue, sharing information and building relationships. The initiatives do not have independent authority. Agencies involved in the initiatives use the information to inform their own actions.
Activities include scientific conferences and regular meetings of policy-makers and agency-level representatives.
The efforts have increased understanding about the shared ecosystem and created a set of ecosystem indicators that can inform protection activities on both sides of the border. Both sides of the border also are committed to developing Marine Protected Areas.
Transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound began in 1992 when the governor of Washington State and premier of British Columbia signed the Environmental Cooperation Agreement.
The agreement committed the state and province to pursue the following mission:
The Statement of Cooperation Working Group that was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada in 2000 established the following three goals:
Lead Organizations
State
Provincial
Key Parties
United States
Canada
The transboundary efforts in the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound ecosystem of the United States and Canada take several shapes, involving mechanisms to share information across federal, state and provincial, and tribal representatives.
Environmental Cooperation Council
A 1992 agreement between Washington State and British Columbia created the Environmental Cooperation Council, which includes the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, Deputy Minister of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, and formal observers from the regional offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The council establishes and directs the work of task forces focused on a variety of regional and transboundary environmental issues that include the marine environment.
British Columbia-Washington Coastal and Ocean Task Force
In 2007, the Coastal and Ocean Task Force was created to supersede an earlier task force and re-energize high-level efforts to focus on transboundary issues. The new task force was created within the structure and cooperative space of the council. The task force included in its focus area the outer coasts of British Columbia and Washington. Its key goals are to:
The task force, however, has yet to made significant progress, despite creating a three-year work plan.
Statement of Cooperation Working Group
In 2000, the federal agencies who are observers to the council wanted to create a formal relationship. The U.S. EPA and Environment Canada signed an agreement that created the Statement of Cooperation Working Group.
The group meets annually and operates with a two-year work plan. It not affiliated with the council. Representatives include:
Coast Salish Gatherings
The 55 British Columbia First Nations and 23 Washington Native American tribes began holding annual gatherings in 2005. The gatherings serve as a forum for the mutual understanding of environmental issues facing the Salish Sea and surrounding lands.
The gatherings allow for discussion among the tribal and First Nations representatives, and officials of the U.S. EPA and Environment Canada.
Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conferences
Semi-annual transboundary conferences focusing on the shared marine ecosystem began in 2003. They are coordinated by the Puget Sound Partnership and Environment Canada.
In the early 1990s, agency-level officials in Washington State and British Columbia raised concerns that the health of the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound ecosystem was declining.
Americans worried that Canada had not made enough progress in stopping the discharges of poorly treated sewage from the cities of Vancouver and Victoria into the marine ecosystem. Canadians were concerned about the potential for oil spills from the large supertankers plying the American side of the border.
Both nations agreed the marine ecosystem is critical to the economy of the region and its population, which relies on the waters for food, shipping, transportation and recreational uses.
In 1991, officials from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Washington Department of Ecology met informally to talk about options to encourage more effective cooperation. The meeting opened channels of cooperation, and made officials aware of an institution gap. Policy-makers and agency officials wanted to create mechanisms that would provide for more than intermittent transboundary connections.
One remedy was the Environmental Cooperation Agreement signed by Washington State and British Columbia in 1992. An Environmental Cooperation Council was created. Since then, other cooperative bodies have been created.
The level of activity and effectiveness of the transboundary efforts have fluctuated over time.
The Ecosystem
The marine ecosystem consists of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Collectively, they are known as the Salish Sea. One of the largest inland seas in the world, the Salish Sea has a surface area of nearly 17,000 square kilometers and a 7,500 kilometer coastline that is shared between Washington State and British Columbia.
The 110,000 square kilometer watershed includes the major cities and surrounding metropolitan areas of Olympia, Seattle and Tacoma in Washington State, and Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia. The population of the area is more than seven million, and is projected to increase to 9.4 million by 2025.
The ecosystem is one of the most ecologically diverse in North America. It includes a variety of coastal and open water habitats that support more than 200 species of fish, 120 species of birds, 20 species of marine mammals, and more than 3,000 species of invertebrates. Culturally iconic species include killer whales, giant Pacific octopus, bald eagles, great blue herons, and Pacific salmon.
Threats
Despite its richness and diversity, the ecosystem is threatened by the following stressors:
The primary strategies of the transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound are to build relationships, encourage communication, and share information.
The initiatives work to create an open dialogue, focusing on specific issues in the ecosystem. Agencies use the information that is exchanged and developed to inform their own activities.
Mechanisms include formal and informal meetings, task forces, and working groups.
One strategy receiving attention is the potential expansion of Marine Protected Areas. MPAs were created independently of the transboundary initiatives on either side of the border. A coalition of environmental groups from Washington and British Columbia has proposed an MPA spanning the boundary waters. In 2004, most of the waters on the American side of the border were designated at the county level as a Marine Stewardship Area. The Canadian waters are being studied for inclusion in the Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area.
Monitoring and assessment activities in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound are performed by the respective agencies on either side of the American and Canadian border.
To inform agency activities, a set of transboundary ecosystem indicators was developed.
The indicators consider air quality, population health, urbanization, forest change, solid waste and recycling, water quality of rivers, streams and lakes, and species at risk. Each indicator is monitored by the appropriate agency on either side of the border.
Data is compiled and analyzed to determine the overall status of the indicator.
Increased Awareness
The initiatives have increased awareness of area as a single marine ecosystem. Canada and the United States recently began referring to the area as the Salish Sea, which recognizes the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca as a single system, where the international border is not an ecological border.
Increased Understanding
The initiatives have increased understanding of the ecosystem. The Puget Sound Research Council, for instance, refined its scope to reflect the interconnected nature of the entire marine ecosystem. Participants in the initiatives say they are viewing the ecosystem as a single system on either side of the border.
Building Relationships
Stronger relationships between agencies and individuals on both sides of the border fostered communication beyond formal meetings. Increased communication impacts the actions of agencies and individuals.
The transboundary initiatives in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have been facilitated by key factors, including:
The transboundary initiatives in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have encountered the following challenges to realizing their conservation goals:
People involved with the transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have learned:
Bi-Annual Georgia Basin Puget Sound Ecosystem Conference: http://depts.washington.edu/uwconf/psgb/index.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S./Canada Partnerships: http://www.epa.gov/pugetsound/partnerships/index.html