Cetacea Lab and First Nations Environmental Protection Plan for Gitga’at Territory

2021/11/06

Zijian Zhang

Cetacea Lab, Gitga’at, Prince Rupert, BC

In the Gitga’at First Nations territory in western BC, there are many whales living in the bay. The whales will breathe, rest, and sing in the bay every day. People living in the territory of Gitga’at live in harmony with these whales. For economic development, the tankers of Enbridge and LNG Canada have entirely changed the living environment here. The emergence of oil tankers has had a very adverse effect on the creatures in the territory of Gitga’at, among which whales are the most harmed.

The impact of oil tankers

In 2006, Enbridge Energy began planning to transport energy through the Kitimat Strait. At the same time, other energy companies also discovered this tanker line and exported natural gas abroad through the Kitimat Strait. The entry of the tanker will undoubtedly destroy the ecological environment around the Kitimat Strait and cause dissatisfaction from the First Nations. As aboriginal people, the First Nations lived on the coast for thousands of years. During the tanker traffic, they would destroy the First Nations territory and turn Gitga’at into dead water. Herman and Janie live in Kitimat Strait all year as the protectors of whales to detect and observe the impact of tankers on the lives of whales. Hermann set up multiple hydrophones in the water of the Kitimat Strait to detect the sound of whales. Whenever an oil tanker passes by the strait, the hydrophone can clearly hear the roar of the tanker. After many years of data analysis on the number, species, and calls of whales by Hermann and Janie, they found that the roar of these engines spread indefinitely in the strait, directly affecting the habits of whales. The appearance of oil tankers directly affected the living environment of whales, and at the same time, destroyed the ecological climate of Kitimat Strait and Gitga’at territory.

Initiatives and activities of the First Nations in the territory of Gitga’at

While recording the whale data, Herman and Janie formed an alliance with the First Nations in the Gitga’at territory to protect the environment of the Gitga’at territory. Janie gave lectures in various places, introducing to residents and students the friendly relationship between humans and whales and her initiative on the environment of the Gitga’at territory. Roy Henry Vickers also mentioned the legend of people and whales and proposed to people to live in peace with nature. La’goot said “in the initiative that the emergence of oil tankers had brought them into an unhealthy environment, which would force the indigenous people to leave their territory.”

Herman, Janie and the First Nations also put their ideas into action. Herman and Janie set up their whale observatory on the coast of Kitimat. Hermann uses hydrophones to record the sound data of whales. Janie uses a camera to record every whale he has seen and creates an ID to observe their movements. Many local aborigines organized their patrols to prevent environmental damage.