Shuswap Environmental Action Society

Media Release

May 7, 2012

Old Town Bay Marina plan should be rejected

The Shuswap Environmental Action Society is opposed to the plans to allow a massive marina for Old Town Bay near Sicamous. Our concerns include the potential impact on fisheries, as well as the impact on recreational values.

Government agencies have promoted the removal of the houseboat operation from the Sicamous channel for a number of years, due to the impact on fish habitat. While moving the houseboats may seem like a positive change, the reality is likely the opposite. If the houseboat docks were removed and the foreshore returned to a natural state, then the move could be beneficial. However, the plans call for the houseboat docks to simply be replaced with docks for speedboats and thus many impacts would remain. Even if the new docks in the channel were built using the best practices, there would still be impacts.

The mapping of fish habitat shows that the channel contains high value habitat on the east side and very high habitat on the west side. The same mapping shows both high and very high habitat along the foreshore of Old Town Bay. If the docks were allowed to move to Old Town Bay, there would be impacts to an area that is now nearly pristine and some of the impacts would remain in the channel, with the result being an increase in impacts.

As well, the channel has been filled with docks for many decades, and any impacts to salmon have already occurred. Salmon continue to swim through the channel in the fall to spawn up the Shuswap River and the fry continue to spread throughout the lake during the year. The main difference between the channel and the bay is that the bay is located in the freshwater estuary of the Eagle River and thus provides critical habitat to the salmon fry exiting the Eagle River in the spring up until high water. Locating a massive marina and breakwater in this area could be pose significant problems to these salmon fry, even though it is proposed for deep water.

According to Craig Orr, a fisheries biologist with The Watershed Watch Salmon Society, fresh water estuaries are “ecologically sensitive areas that are important to the ecosystem and are very vulnerable to disturbances.” Craig added, “These areas tend to have the highest fish biomass and biodiversity by providing a place for fish to spawn, feed and rear juveniles and should be avoided by such projects.”

Impacts from the marina include the potential for fuel spills, pollution from washing the houseboats, shade from the boats that create hiding places for more predators of the salmon fry, as well as noise and siltation.  While a comprehensive, independent impact assessment will be prepared; it should be made available to the public for review before a final decision is made.

The marina would also impact other species that utilize the foreshore, such as shoreline birds that feed and nest in bays. Sandy beaches are rare in the Shuswap Lakes and many of these beaches have some form of development. An assessment is also needed of the use of this area by other species and of the impacts that could occur from a marina development.

In addition to the impacts on recreation, the marina would also impact public recreation values. The proposal calls for privatizing public foreshore.  The Shuswap Lakes Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP) is just in the beginning stage of developing a recreation management plan for the lakes. Any proposal to privatize a large area of the foreshore should wait until there is a publicly approved plan in place to manage recreational values.

In conclusion, Jim Cooperman, President of Shuswap Environmental Action Society (SEAS), urges that “the public, especially all those concerned about salmon habitat and recreational values provide comments to the Integrated Land Management Bureau about the inappropriate marina development as soon as possible, as the deadline for comments in May 19th.”  “Even though the marina is designed to be located in deeper water outside the primary zone critical to salmon fry, we remain concerned that this massive marina, that would fill in the entire bay, will still negatively impact salmon and other species,” he added.

Note that the public can access what little information is available about the project and can provide comments using this link:

http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=29366

For more information, see the Backgrounder