BC Terminal Compliance Program and Existing Conditions Study

Background:

Dynamic Ocean provided regulatory advisory support to a Port Terminal located in Burrard Inlet, Vancouver, British Columbia (BC).

Led by Victoria Burdett-Coutts, Dynamic Ocean, was the regulatory discipline lead for an end-of-life replacement project for two of the terminal’s assets, when the project was in the detailed design and permitting phase.

A summary of Dynamic Ocean’s contribution to the Project is provided below:

·       Led the communications and engagement with RAs.

·       Led the ongoing consultation with Tsleil-Waututh Nation (Tsleil-Waututh), Squamish First Nation (Squamish), and Musqueam Indian Band (Musqueam).

·       Led stakeholder engagement, composed of terminal neighbours, municipal governments and Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs). 

·       Responsible for overseeing and managing several consultants who provide regulatory and engineering QP support.

·       Managed Response to Information Requests (IRs) that were received from RAs, stakeholders, and Indigenous Groups.

·       Collaborated with the Terminal engineering discipline leads to confirm potential schedule implications due to regulatory requirements (e.g., in water works outside of fish windows, schedule relative to permit acquisition).

·       Advised the Terminal engineering discipline leads for design aspects (e.g., seabed footprint size, dredging, potential for disposal at sea [DAS]) that may impact permitting requirements.

Support for the following permit applications:

·       Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program (DFO-FFHPP) .

·       Transport Canada.

·       Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (Port Authority).  

In addition to Dynamic Ocean’s role, Victoria was the Regulatory discipline lead (owner representative) for the Project. In this role, Victoria oversaw several other consultancies to encompass the full environmental scope for project commitments (e.g., contaminated soils, land-based erosion, and sediment control (ESC)). 

The client was an organization with a strong ethic around the environment and funded several projects without any regulatory commitment to do so. These are summarized below.

Services Provided:

Bull Kelp Restoration Program:

Bull kelp was observed within the Project footprint and was documented during a 2022 ROV survey conducted by Dynamic Ocean. As Bull kelp is considered a high value habitat it had been included in the residual effects determination for the Harmful Alteration, Disruption or Destruction (HADD) of fish habitat for the Project. Through additional ROV surveys, Dynamic Ocean observed bull kelp in a portion of the Project’s water lot north of the construction area and within an area of no vessel traffic.

Dynamic Ocean worked on a scientific collaboration with University of British Columbia (UBC) to determine the efficacy of bull kelp restoration and enhancement within the Client’s water lots. Planting occurred through two methodological processes:

·         Relocation: transplanting of bull kelp plants between the Client’s water lots.

·         Outplanting: laboratory-reared bull kelp that was genetically identical to Client’s bull kelp.

Autonomous Hydrophone Program:

In advance of the construction of the Project, the Client was interested in conducting underwater noise monitoring at the Terminal to understand the existing underwater sound levels and how ships in the area contribute to the underwater soundscape. The Autonomous Hydrophone (AH) Program objective was to understand the typical background ambient sound levels, occurrence, and distribution of marine mammals in the vicinity of the Terminal, as well as anthropogenic noise levels.

This information informed planning for pile driving in two ways:

·         To understand local patterns in marine mammal presence and assess the likelihood that marine mammals will be present during pile driving activity.

·         To understand local contributions to underwater sound levels, which is key when estimating the natural cumulative sound levels that the noise from pile driving activity will add to.

Underwater sound levels are naturally driven by tide, wind, and waves. If enough marine mammals are in an area, marine mammals can also cause sound levels to elevate. Noise from vessel traffic and other construction activity in the area will likely be the largest contributors to underwater sound levels.

This existing condition study had the potential to support an understanding of the types of marine mammals present within proximity to the Terminal, which will support the Client in understanding and predicting marine mammals that may be in proximity to the Project during the out of window impact pile driving.

Terminal Underwater Noise Modelling Study:

Dynamic Ocean and the Client had an interest to understand the potential for exceedances during pile driving to the DFO-FFHPP noise thresholds that were an expected requirement of the Fisheries Act Authorization (FAA). To understand this, Dynamic Ocean modelled the potential underwater noise that would be generated by impact pile driving during construction. The Client undertook this study to be able to predict additional mitigation or monitoring measures that would be required during impact pile driving. As a component of this program, Dynamic Ocean engaged with the Client’s engineering discipline lead and a contractor to confirm what types of pile driving might be required during construction. This further supported a ‘realistic’ scenario for predicting underwater noise during construction and helped to inform the relevant mitigation strategies that could be implemented when construction began.