Hundreds of bird species would be affected by a Burrard Inlet tanker spill, report warns
Source: Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun
At least 236 bird species that rely on Stanley Park for food, wintering, migration stopovers, or breeding habitat would be at risk from an oil-tanker spill in Burrard Inlet, a Wilderness Committee report warned Wednesday.
The report, written by Greenpeace International co-founder Rex Weyler, notes that a spill would have devastating and long-lasting impacts on aquatic habitat critical to birds.
Among them are globally significant populations of wintering Barrow's goldeneye and thousands of surf scoters, a species of special concern in B.C.
The shorelines and waters surrounding Stanley Park are classified as an Important Bird Area of Canada, with up to 17,000 individual birds using the 400-hectare park every year, the report notes.
An oil spill along almost nine kilometres of Stanley Park shoreline would dam-age ecosystems ranging from kelp beds to rocky shorelines, sand, and intertidal mud-flats. Shoreline habitats also support marine algae, shell-fish, fish, and mammals such as raccoons, mink, and river otters found in the park.
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