The beaches facing English Bay are a major tourist attraction all year long, with the peak season being late summer.

The Vancouver Seawall runs all the way around English Bay from Stanley Park in the northeast around False Creek[citation needed] at Point Grey facing the Strait of Georgia in the southwest.

Today, the waters of the bay are often dotted with hundreds of small pleasure boats, as well as huge freighters waiting at anchor to load cargoes at Vancouver's port.

At least twenty seabirds were injured or affected by the spill,[4] but the full extent of any environmental and economic damage is unknown at this early stage.

[5][6] The federal government was criticized for its response to the spill, including the delay in notifying the public of the health hazard, by the mayor and premier, environmental scientists, and an international shipping expert.