The Annotated Ramsar List of Wetlands of ... - Nature Vancouver

Issue 2: Failure to include Roberts Bank in the Fraser RiverRamsar Site when it was extended in 2012.What is a Ramsar Site?The Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of InternationalImportance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) is an international treaty for theconservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressiveencroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing thefundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,scientific, and recreational value. It is named after the town of Ramsar in Iran.The convention was developed and adopted by participating nations at a meetingin Ramsar, Iran on February 2, 1971, hosted by the Iranian Department ofEnvironment, and came into force on December, 21 1975.The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance now includes 2,098sites (known as Ramsar Sites)Source of information about the issueExtract from the Annotated Ramsar List of Wetlands of InternationalImportanceCANADAThe Convention on Wetlands came into force for Canada on 15 May 1981. Canadapresently has 37 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance, with atotal surface area of 13,086,771 hectares.Among these sites is the Fraser River Delta site, described below:Fraser River Delta. 24/05/82; British Columbia; 20,682 ha; 49º06'00"N 123º03'00"W.IBA, WHSRN. The site is formed by six components (Burns Bog, Sturgeon Bank, SouthArm Marshes, Boundary Bay, Serpentine, and the former 'Alaksen' Ramsar Site), all inthe Metro Vancouver Region and part of the the most important river delta/estuary forfish and birds on the west coast of Canada. The complex provides an internationallycritical migratory stopover area for the Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri), one of themost common shorebirds in the western hemisphere. It provides feeding and roostingsites to about 250,000 migrating and wintering waterfowl and 1 million shorebirds,regularly supporting the threshold of 1% of a population of a species or subspecies ofwaterbird. A number of Provincially- and Federally-listed fish species of concern can befound within the estuarine habitats, including Acipenser transmontanus, Acipensermedirostris, and Thaleichthys pacificus. The complexity of ecosystems found in the site,such as estuarine marsh, mudflats, floodplains, sloughs and river channels are all criticalfeeding and rearing areas for anadromous salmon during their transition between riverand marine stages of their life cycle. Some of the subsites are used for low-impact6