Editor:
As a born Canadian of some 87 years and a resident of Delta for some 85 years, living in Ladner for 20 of those years and in Tsawwassen for some 50-plus years, I would like to express my concerns against the proposed Terminal 2 expansion at the Roberts Bank Port, located at the mouth of the Fraser River Estuary.
Having served the commercial fishing industry on the Fraser River for over 50 years I have experienced the life and death of that industry, due to poor management of those in charge of the Fraser River’s ability to maintain an ecosystem that supports the natural migration of salmon and other marine life.
To put into perspective, the Fraser River estuary is the mother of all marine life both within the Fraser River and the Salish Sea and that life is about to end if any further expansion like Terminal 2 is allowed at the Roberts Bank Port.
The Port of Vancouver proclaims that their economic development of Terminal 2, far outweighs any loss that would occur to marine life on the Fraser River and Salish Sea.
Yet any work that they have done over the years to try and compensate for the loss of marine life due to their developments, has failed.
Major industrial developments that have occurred to date by the different Port Commissions have slowly eroded the ability of the mother of all marine life, and the Fraser River’s ability to continue to support that life, and 102 species of marine life are at risk of extinction if we don’t do something to save them.
The economic loss the Fraser River fishery has been estimated to be worth $300m per year and the loss of whale tourism to be worth another $26m per year.
One would hope that the natural values that have been created by the mother of the Fraser River Estuary will be recognized and that any further developments like Terminal 2 will be denied in order to maintain and revive that life.
Douglas George Massey
This Letter to Editor written by Douglas George Massey titled Letters: In opposition of Roberts Bank T2 originally appeared in the Delta Optimist on January 18, 2021.
Watch: Environmental impact of Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2
