Sable Island to be protected as national park
Posted May 19, 2010 05:56:11 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Sable Island could become Canada’s newest national park.
The federal and provincial governments announced plans Tuesday in Ottawa to begin the process that will eventually designate the crescent-shaped island as a national park.
Home to some 400 wild ponies, the world’s largest grey seal colony and a variety of seabirds, Sable Island is little more than a 42 kilometre long sand bar covered with grass.
Designating it a national park means will make it a protected area and until a plan and rules are in place, you’ll still need permission to go there.
Mark Butler of the Ecology Action Centre is pleased with the park designation, saying it was a better option than to make it a national wildlife area.
“The level of interest in Sable Island will only increase regardless,” he said. “It is increasing. I think it makes sense to protect it in some fashion.”
Butler says he also has concerns too many visitors could possibly impact its fragile ecosystem.
“It’s a healthy reaction I think, overall,” he said. “People are concerned that this could result if done badly or poorly in over-visitation and damage to the island.”
Speaking on CTV, Nova Scotia’s natural resource minister says the public will be consulted before Sable is open for visitation and rules will be established to control the flow of people going to and from the island.
“The public consultation phase is the place where we really hope we’ll get insight into what the public deems to be appropriate in terms of how much human presence there should be on the island,” said John MacDonell.
Sable Island is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic due to more than 350 ships wrecked off its coast since the late 1500’s. Today, oil rigs drilling for gas can be seen clearly from its shores.
