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"Key findings from the report include:

• Local governments have important roles to play in a marine oil spill, including communicating to the public about health and safety, coordinating evacuations, closing beaches and other infrastructure, and identifying sensitive areas for priority protection.
• Local governments are not adequately prepared to manage the consequences of an oil spill affecting their community, and engage in the multi-agency response effort. All but one of the local governments who participated in the research reported limited preparedness, or complete non-preparedness, in the event of a marine oil spill.
• Local governments are challenged by poor communication from senior spill response partners, a lack of clear and detailed plans outlining the roles and responsibilities of all the agencies involved in spill response, and a lack of capacity and financial resources to respond to the consequences of a spill in their community.

The report makes recommendations to all levels of government to strengthen marine oil spill response in the region, including:

• Oil spill response plans should be publicly available in BC, much like they are in Seattle and San Francisco.
• Senior response partners should improve their communication and engagement with local governments regarding marine oil spill planning and training in the Georgia Strait region. They must ensure that funding is not a barrier to local government participation in marine oil spill planning and training exercises.
• The roles and responsibilities of all the involved parties should be clearly documented.
• Local governments in the Georgia Strait region should ensure that their emergency response plan addresses marine oil spills and that the plans provide operational detail about all the types of activities the local government will engage in."