Saving Sable Island    

Editorial, Toronto Star, October 09, 2004

Sable Island has long held a special place in our national imagination.

Known as the graveyard of the Atlantic, this remote and inhospitable strip of sand 300 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia has struck fear in the hearts of sailors for centuries. Some 350 ships have foundered on the island's fog-shrouded shores over the last four centuries, including one as recently as 1999.

Yet aside from unlucky mariners, lightkeepers and a handful of scientists, few people have witnessed the island's desolate beauty.

Governments have restricted access since 1801, originally to prevent the looting of shipwrecks but now to protect the island's fragile ecosystem. Its primary residents, wild horses believed to be descended from Acadian livestock, roam shifting sand dunes that are largely untouched by human activity.

But the island is in trouble.

Cutbacks in the 1990s forced the Coast Guard, Environment Canada and other departments to look for ways to help keep the island's valuable weather monitoring and research work going. A volunteer trust stepped in to run the island with funding from federal and provincial governments, the offshore oil and gas industry and other sources.

Fundraising, though, has been difficult. The Sable Island Preservation Trust has a $500,000 shortfall in its $1 million annual budget. Unless it can secure long-term, stable funding, the trust may abandon the island next spring, compromising scientific research and opening the door to tourists and treasure hunters who will harm its delicate environment.

Ottawa must once again take full responsibility for the funding and operation of Sable Island. Its long history, unique natural features and scientific promise are too precious to let slip away.

The volunteer trust can still play a vital role in promoting and educating people about the island. But the federal government must return this national treasure to national hands.