Tufted Puffin

Environment Canada is asking for your participation in a survey that looks at how Canadians value the Scott Islands marine ecosystem, and their attitudes and beliefs toward marine conservation in general. The survey, conducted by a graduate student at Simon Fraser University, may also be used by Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service and its partners in their work to establish the proposed Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area.

The proposed Scott Island National Wildlife Area is expected to encompass more than 11,000 square kilometres of ocean around the Scott Islands, a group of five small islands and numerous islets off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They support the highest concentration of breeding seabirds on Canada’s Pacific coast – forty per cent of the seabirds that breed in British Columbia nest on these islands. This includes about half of all Cassin’s Auklets in the world and 90% of the Tufted Puffins in Canada, as well as 7% of the world’s Rhinoceros Auklets. The rich waters around the Scott Islands also attract five to ten million migratory seabirds every year, including globally at risk birds such as the Black-footed Albatross and the Sooty Shearwater. In Canada, two other species that depend on the Scott Islands are listed under the Species At Risk Act: Short-tailed Albatross and Pink-footed Shearwater.

Protecting this marine ecosystem, which is also an Important Bird Area, is an important part of ensuring these birds have the food and breeding sites they need to survive. By participating in this survey, you will be helping researchers better understand the value of this marine ecosystem to people and birds.