Bruce Reid is a registered professional biologist (RPBio, retired) who worked for DFO in B.C. for 37 years, including as regional manager of the Oceans Program for the Pacific region. He specializes in marine and river habitat protection.
27 Nov 2025
As a result of my extensive knowledge of the region, I'm acutely aware of the issues that led to the rejection of the original Northern Gateway Pipeline, as well as the necessity of the oil tanker ban in the environmentally sensitive and turbulent North Coast waters.
Warming ocean and river temperatures and continuing drought conditions are increasingly wreaking havoc on existing salmon populations and the viability of many other aquatic species. It's my understanding that the former proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline route would have crossed up to an estimated 1,000 watercourses, putting a wealth of spawning and fish-bearing habitats at further risk in the event of pipeline construction impacts, pipeline leaks or oil spills.
The Skeena River is the second-largest salmon-bearing river in Canada and a major economic driver in the region. Just one oil spill in the area would be catastrophic for spawning adults and juveniles.
According to studies conducted by Simon Fraser University and First Nation scientists, it has been estimated that up to one billion juvenile salmon migrate through the estuary of this river annually.
This northern pipeline proposal was rejected several years ago for sound ... thoroughly researched reasons.
As stated in the NSB MPA Initiative Network Action Plan, the North Coast is rich and diverse in terms of biodiversity of species, culture and habitats, and supports an oceans economy of $1.3 billion (GDP in 2018) directly employing over 11,000 people. There are a large number of marine protected areas as well as several endangered species in these waters that could be further imperilled by vessel strikes, noise disturbance and oil spills.
A further critical consideration is that the waters of Hecate Strait can be extremely volatile and treacherous, with a rocky and heavily articulated coastline. These conditions greatly increase the risks of an oil spill.
Due to these impediments, preventing damage from such a spill would be exceptionally difficult, potentially causing longterm catastrophic harm to the marine ecosystem and to those species harvested by First Nations, commercial and recreational fishers.
For these reasons, the Pacific North Coast is absolutely the wrong place to be running bitumen pipelines and shipping it in tankers, given the extremely serious and consequential environmental risks involved. This northern pipeline proposal was rejected several years ago for sound and thoroughly researched reasons. These continue to be just as relevant today.
