Haida Nation wants shipping traffic banned from culturally significant underwater volcano – CBC

SGann Kinghlas-Bowie seamount 1 of 3 areas being studied by expedition launched this month

Jul 12, 2018

The Haida Nation wants tighter restrictions around a marine protected area that is the site of an ancient undersea volcano from which springs a supernatural being central to some of the nation’s traditional stories.

Known as the SGann Kinghlas-Bowie Seamount Marine Protected Area, it encompasses a grouping of about three volcanoes which rise 3,000 metres from the seafloor to about 24 metres from the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

The Haida Nation wants to restrict shipping traffic in the area. Currently, it is only a “voluntary exclusion zone,” said Haida Nation President Kil tlaats’gaa Peter Lantin.

“We want to make sure with all this traffic out there that these areas are to be avoided, that it’s not just voluntary,” he said.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/haida-sgann-kinghlas-bowie-seamounts-protected-1.4743418