 |
|
Oceans
Ocean Economy
Canada's Ocean Industries: Contribution to the Economy 1988-2000
5.0 The Performance of Ocean Industries 1988-2000:Pacific Region
Canada 's Pacific Coast has a coastline of 27,000 km and more than 6,500 coastal islands. It has a relatively small continental shelf and EEZ area in comparison with the Atlantic and Arctic Coasts . However, the area is well endowed with living marine resources and with oil and gas and mineral resources. These latter resources have not been exploited because of federal and provincial governments' moratoria since 1972 banning exploitation in order to prevent crude oil tankers from travelling through Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound en route to Valdez , Alaska . The most important marine industries on the Pacific Coast are therefore fisheries, marine transportation, and tourism. Their major problems are economic and environmental in nature, since the Pacific region is an area where the land/sea interface is at its most crucial in terms of economic impact.
|
