INNOVATIONS IN SUSTAINABILITY

Over the past decade the economy of Clayoquot Sound has been changing. Tourism and aquaculture have emerged as new sectors. At least a half a million tourists visit Clayoquot Sound every year. Tofino currently sees the majority of this activity. Sports fishing, kayaking, surfing, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, and whale watching are among the main recreational attractions.

Aquaculture in the area includes both shellfish and finfish farms. The shellfish sector currently produces oysters and scallops. Clayoquot Sound also has a high concentration of finfish farms. The main species grown is Atlantic salmon. As the number of fish farms grows, so does the controversy regarding the environmental impacts and the ethical appropriateness of fish farming.

The emerging economy of Clayoquot Sound is not without its challenges. Each community is faced with issues and visions of their own future, bound together by the regional context and limitations. Along with these challenges are expressions of resolve to do things differently, to do things right. The Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board, Iisaak Forest Resources, the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust and the West Coast Vancouver Island Aquatic Management Board are examples of this commitment.

The Clayoquot Field Station is an important first step in the development of a Research and Education sector of the regional economy.

“You can try to understand the living world with your head, but sometimes the heart is a truer field guide. Here in Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound, a million-acre amphitheatre where mountainsides embrace a fjord-fingered, island-strewn reach of the sea, you don’t have to choose, for everyway of knowing nature seems to come into play.”

(Douglas Chadwick, "Pacific Suite", National Geographic, Feb 2003)