BURST
The Vancouver park board is expected to explore options for restricting personal watercraft in Burrard Inlet after a Sea-Doo struck a grey whale in May.
Witnesses along the seawall watched the collision near Stanley Park on May 4. The whale had been feeding off English Bay for days, drawing crowds of residents and tourists.
Commissioner Tom Digby, who submitted a motion calling for the board to explore its options, said the incident drew national and international attention, including coverage in the New York Times.
“When this whale strike happened on May the 4th, that was really the trigger,” he said Monday before the meeting. “But (the motion) has been on my mind for quite some time.”
The whale strike put a spotlight on concerns about personal watercraft operating near swimming areas and marine wildlife along Vancouver’s waterfront.
His motion calls on the board to advocate for the “prohibition or significant restriction” of high-speed personal watercraft in Burrard Inlet. It calls on the board chair to push federal agencies for stronger regulation.
It also directs park board staff to report on what measures fall within its jurisdiction to discourage or ban the launching, staging or operation of watercraft from park board-managed facilities.
Digby said he also plans to talk to other municipalities that have Burrard Inlet waterfront.
Orcas, and humpback and grey whales are increasingly returning to local waters, Digby said. Grey whales that feed along the B.C. coast are part of an eastern North Pacific population that has been in steep decline for the past six years, partly due to climate changes in their Arctic feeding grounds, a 2025 study found.
“We’re very anxious that their difficult lives are not made worse by careless human activities,” Digby said.
He pointed to Victoria, the San Juan Islands in Washington state, and Sydney, Australia, as jurisdictions that have already implemented restrictions or outright bans on personal watercraft, and said that Vancouver is overdue for stronger regulation.
Another motion on Monday night’s agenda addresses overlapping beach safety and marine protection concerns, and the commissioner said the two may be combined.
An online petition started by Deborah Katz Henriquez calling for jet ski restrictions in Burrard Inlet has surpassed 8,700 signatures, with over 300 emails sent to the park board in support. Digby said the vote carries weight heading into October’s municipal election.
“If it does not pass, then I can guarantee you it’s gonna be an election issue,” he said.
Also on the agenda is a staff report that recommends the board approve designated smoking areas at three summer festivals this year: the Great Outdoor Comedy Festival in Stanley Park, and the Country Club and Rose Disco events at Jericho Beach Park. The latter two are displaced from the PNE by FIFA fan festival events.
The proposed pilot program would exempt the events from the park board’s no-smoking bylaw, which has been in place since 2010.
“Surveys indicate that up to 37 per cent of festivalgoers smoke — roughly double the rate of the general public — leading to widespread, routine rule-breaking at non-smoking events,” the report says.
The park board introduced alcohol in Vancouver parks through a similar pilot process. The smoking proposal “seeks to follow a similar model,” the report says.