Environmentalists say there are still more questions than answers after thousands of plastic bags were found washed up on a protected ecological area south of Tofino.

Chief among those questions – why it took so long for the government to notify stakeholders and the public of the incident.

CTV News first reported Friday on a leaked Parks Canada memo that detailed the discovery of about 2,000 large aquaculture feed bags on the Broken Group of Islands, a protected area of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

According to the memo, the bags were found on Nov. 10 on four of the islands – but environmentalists, First Nations and even Courtenay-Alberni NDP MP Gord Johns found out about it through media coverage Friday.

"We could have got on to the beaches sooner, we could have used our own boat transportation and methods to get onto the Broken Group of Islands," said Michelle Hall of the Pacific Rim Surfrider Foundation, a volunteer group that organizes beach clean-ups in the region.

Hall says the plastic spill has made the task of cleaning up Tofino-area beaches much messier

"Lots of the community are finding out this by walking down the beaches and finding these bags everywhere, and not knowing. So they're coming to groups like Surfrider to ask why are these bags ending up on the shores," she said.

While Parks Canada said in the leaked memo charges could be possible against a local aquaculture company in the matter, the organization hasn't spoken publicly on who might be at fault.

Caretakers looking after property near the Broken Group of Islands sent photos to CTV News showing a barge sinking into the water in Jane Bay, near the islands, on Oct .20.

The barge is owned by Omega Pacific Hatchery, a Chinook salmon farming company.

The caretakers said Coast Guard crews investigating the sinking and notified environmental response groups with no follow-up. The barge then fully sank on Nov. 9, with debris starting to wash ashore immediately afterwards.

Johns has called upon the federal government to act immediately to clean up the spill, and has tabled a bill calling for a national strategy surrounding marine pollution.

"I think we were all caught off-guard to find out through the media on Friday that this incident had taken place a week prior," he said. "None of the local communities or First Nations or local cleanup organizations had been notified."

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Tseshaht First Nation, whose traditional territory includes the Broken Group Island, called it a "concerning" discovery.

In a statement Friday, Parks Canada said it "takes this issue very seriously" and has begun cleaning up the debris in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Both Johns and Surfrider say this show exactly why better communications are needed within the government and externally to local communities and clean-up groups. 

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island's Gord Kurbis