The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) has announced that it has achieved a ranking of 3.7 out of 5 by Green Marine, an increase over their previous 2018 score of 3.3 and one that places the deep-water port among the most environmentally sustainable ports in North America.
Green Marine is an environmental certification program for North America’s maritime industry. The voluntary program is said to help ports surpass basic regulatory requirements and become leaders in managing their port operation’s environmental impacts.
Green Marine certification results are compiled on a scale of 1 to 5, where one illustrates the monitoring of regulations and five illustrates excellence and leadership. The average score for participating ports, across all applicable areas during the 2019 reporting year, was reported to be 2.8. the GVHA, in partnership with terminal manger Western Stevedoring, scored a 3.7.
GVHA said the increase in score from 2018 to 2019 was largely due to increased scoring in the “Environmental Leadership” category, which rose from a 3 to a 5. Gains were also made in the newly introduced category of “Underwater Noise” with the organization’s efforts in working with the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Communications Committee and Ocean Networks Canada to better understand the local impacts and help to implement solutions around this pollution source.
GVHA also said it performed ahead of North American port averages across all categories while achieving excellence in “Community Impacts” and “Environmental Leadership.” In addition, year-over-year improvement is a requirement for organizations in order to recertify, which GVHA has done since joining the program in 2011.
The harbour authority further stated that it will continue to work with its partners and community towards continued improvement across environmental categories in 2020. GVHA’s latest project is the feasibility study and business case for shore power at the Victoria Cruise Terminal at The Breakwater District; results are expected by fall 2020.
