The Puget Sound/Georgia Basin Region Selected as a Priority Conservation Area in the Baja California to Bering Sea Initiative

• Main Authors: Chih-fan Tsao, Lance E. Morgan, Sara Maxwell
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Baja to Bering; priority area; marine protected area; continental planning; Baja; Bering Sea; Georgia Basin; Pacific; Killer Whale; Killer whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.487.3273; http://mcbi.marine-conservation.org/publications/pub_pdfs/Tsao_et_al_2005.pdf

Within the context of a continental-scale planning initiative, the Puget Sound / Georgia Basin area and the Coastal Pacific region of Vancouver Island and Olympic Peninsula were selected by a tri-national team of scientists and resource managers as priority conservation areas. The Baja California to Bering Sea Initiative represents a cooperative agreement of the three countries to establish a common conservation vision for the region. These regions were selected based on their unique ecology – the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin area was identified because it is an inland sea encompassing complex benthic habitats, extensive tidal flats, eel grass beds, large salmonid runs, and because it is important to the killer whale, a species of common conservation concern of the three nations. The outer coast was selected based on productive fisheries and its importance to seabirds and marine mammals. At the same time, the growing human populations along the coast and expanding marine tourism industry are resulting in environmental concerns that need to be addressed by cooperative action of the US and Canadian governments.