British Columbia environmental groups say the province’s newly released Coastal Marine Strategy should be the first step toward a law that would protect coastal habitats from shoreline development. …increasing frequency and severity of storms caused by climate change are prompting questions about whether building near shorelines should be regulated. …The B.C. Coastal Marine Strategy was announced last month as a unifying vision to guide decision making on B.C.’s waterways and coastal resources for the next 20 years. It does not lay out plan of action and is not legally binding. …A new comprehensive coastal marine law, administered by one ministry, could force developers and municipalities to consider cumulative effects — not just the effect of a single development, but the degradation to ecosystem health that has already occurred in that area, said Erin Gray, staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law said. She also argues it would eliminate jurisdictional overlap