Editor:
Re: Feds didn't refuse
to add Roberts Bank to Ramsar, letter to the editor, Oct. 26
Like Delta-Richmond East MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, I like statements to be "based on fact." As she suggested, I reviewed Delta's website on the Ramsar designation of the Fraser River delta as a wetland of international significance.
Indeed the Ramsar nomination process was begun in 2010 after Delta council endorsed the application on Sept. 13. The report suggested the provincial wildlife management areas within the Fraser River estuary be included with Burns Bog.
The report lists the those as "Boundary Bay, Sturgeon Bank, South Arm Marshes and the future Roberts Bank WMA." So from the outset of the Ramsar process, Roberts Bank was included. In fact, in the staff presentation to council a special map of the Roberts Bank WMA was included.
The wildlife management area designation in 2011 had been delayed for a decade after the management plan was signed and it now had large holes allowing for port expansion.
I am very pleased that our MP supported the nomination because all applications to Ramsar have to be submitted by the federal government. But between application and designation the key site, that is front and centre of the Fraser River delta ecosystem, was deleted. Could this have anything to do with Terminal 2, Port Metro Vancouver's spurious need to double its container port at Roberts Bank?
Since it is always possible to add to Ramsar sites and since Roberts Bank has been declared as a wildlife management area, could our MP see that this vital site is added immediately to the Fraser River delta Ramsar site?
Mary Taitt
