Since 1990, Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) has been the only grassroots citizens’ organization focused on protecting and restoring the marine environment and promoting the sustainability of the entire Georgia Strait, Canada’s most at-risk natural environment (Parks Canada), its adjoining waters, and communities. GSA is committed to a future that includes clean water and air, healthy wild salmon runs, rich marine life and natural areas, and sustainable communities.  Our almost 18,000 members and supporters work over the long-term to achieve lasting environmental change through practical and positive solutions to threats facing the Strait.

Following the direction laid out in our 2018-2019 Strategic Plan, our current programs are:

• Ocean Literacy
• Tankers and Spills
• Clean Marine BC
• Species Protection
• Waterfront Initiative

We believe that long-lasting environmental change in the region is created by seeking practical and positive solutions to the threats facing the Strait and its adjoining waters, and working over the long-term to make these solutions a reality. Our success comes from: working collaboratively across sectors, empowering citizens and communities with knowledge and tools for engagement and advocacy; working with experts to find science-based solutions to root causes; speaking as the voice of citizens of the Georgia Strait region; and bringing issues of concern to the attention of governments so they will make decisions that consider ecological needs on an equal footing with social and economic needs.

A few examples of our accomplishments in the protection of our ocean and species over the years include:

• Being a lead voice in highlighting the lack of protection for endangered resident killer whales and helping to win a Canadian federal court ruling against the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for failing to protect the habitat critical to the whales’ survival
• Facilitating opportunities for British Columbians to take action to demand protection of species and their habitats, including 2500 GSA supporters signing our Stand Up for Our Salmon action in 2017, demanding an independent review of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline construction – including their installation of seven fish spawning deterrents into BC rivers without the required permits
• Convening the Orca Coalition – a group of five science and conservation organizations identifying priority actions needed on key threats to southern resident killer whales – acoustic disturbance, toxic contamination and low prey availability (chinook salmon).
• Participating in the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, highlighting the broad and complex range of negative human impacts on the salmon, and ensuring that the health of the watershed around the Fraser River was included in the Inquiry – as a result of this work, we won a moratorium by the Province of BC on new or expanded salmon farm tenures in the Discovery Islands.
• Being a founding member of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, a coalition that was instrumental in raising the alarm on open net cage salmon farms and increasing the awareness of the threat among British Columbians.