Canada flunks ocean protection
On Sunday, June 8, 2008 people around the world celebrated the 13th annual World Oceans Day. Ocean festivals, public lectures, beach cleanups and a multitude of events marked the day and gave people opportunities to connect with the sea. Although many people around the globe could bask in their countries’ achievements to protect and conserve their ocean waters, Canadians were not so fortunate.
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| Living Ocean’s Kate Willis Ladell presents the Marine Protected Areas Report Card that gave Canada a failing grade for its poor effort and lack of results. |
 Download pdf of PNCIMA map (2.9 MB) Open jpg of PNCIMA map |
Download the MPA Report Card.
Compared to Australia and the US, Canada has the smallest area of ocean protected, has invested the least money, and has done little to ensure that representative regions of Canada’s marine waters are safeguarded. Both Australia and the US, whose total areas of federally designated MPAs are 32 and 16 times larger than Canada’s respectively, received passing grades. Slightly less than 0.5 percent of Canada’s waters are protected in federal MPAs.
Countdown to Oceans Day
Frustrated by the federal and provincial governments’ lack of effort in setting up a marine planning process for an 88,000 km2 area of ocean called the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA), in February, Living Oceans Society, David Suzuki Foundation and Sierra Club BC created an initiative known as “PNCIMA Watch” and launched a Countdown Campaign to Oceans Day.A proper marine plan for PNCIMA will provide a forum to establish a network of protected areas while also maintaining access for important coastal industries so that our ocean’s health is sustained and the many coastal communities who depend on it are supported.
PNCIMA Watch identified commitments and milestones necessary to ensure the success of the planning process. The hope was that the Canadian and B.C. governments would achieve some, if not all, of the milestones by the Oceans Day deadline. Unfortunately, the governments did not reach a single milestone on the road to good ocean management!
Download a copy of the declaration.
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Tired of government stalling, on the day after
Oceans Day, 25 of North America’s leading scientists presented Prime
Minister Harper with a declaration calling on him to start paying
attention to our oceans, and PNCIMA specifically.
The good news is that there is still time to secure a bright future for B.C’s incredible marine environment by building a marine plan that ensures a healthy future for our ocean. To do this, we need YOUR help. Please join these scientists and CLICK HERE to sign the declaration. |
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Sea lice map links salmon farms to infected pink and chum juveniles
A new sea lice map shows clearly that juvenile pink and chum salmon swimming near salmon farms suffer higher levels of sea lice infestation than juveniles in fish farm-free areas of the B.C. coast.
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| Juvenile pink salmon infected with sea lice. |
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| Dowload pdf of map (2.9 MB) Open jpg of map |
The map, created by Living Oceans Society, summarizes the findings of six scientific studies that sampled juvenile salmon at eight areas along B.C.’s coast. The species of sea lice referred to in the map (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) is the one most lethal to juvenile wild salmon.
Remarkably, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) continues to ignore the weight of scientific evidence published in peer reviewed journals—and so graphically displayed in the sea lice map—that shows salmon farms breed sea lice that kill our juvenile wild salmon.
The Norwegian corporations that control 92 percent of B.C.’s fish farms also deny the proof, even though they have mounted a campaign against the parasitic lice using a pesticide called “SLICE’™ that may be killing more than just sea lice.
SLICE is given to farmed fish in their feed pellets. Uneaten food spreads the chemical treatment from open net cage pens to the ocean beyond and may harm nearby prawns, shrimp and crab as well as many fish species.
Living Oceans Society supports closed containment as the only viable way to make the salmon farming industry sustainable.
Climate change and ocean health: Living Oceans Society hosts Think Tank
Just days before the B.C. government implements a carbon tax in response to the growing climate crisis, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and US President George Bush are ramping up their efforts to lift the moratoria on offshore oil drilling on the coast of B.C. and the U.S. respectively.
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| Climate change could lead to higher sea levels on B.C.’s coast. |
By looking to perpetuate our dependence on fossil fuels however, both the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and President Bush are sailing in the opposite direction of the world’s visionary leaders, who are struggling to implement measures to reduce our carbon footprint. Instead, Bush and the B.C. Chamber seem determined to lead us away from the emerging economic opportunities associated with the growing global demand for more sustainable energy.
Many of the challenges that the world’s oceans are facing have been, at least in part, caused by climate change. Increases in acidity of seawater, the breakdown of coral reefs, the migratory patterns of fish species and changes in ocean circulation that affect our weather and rainfall are all associated with climate change. Protecting biodiversity and ensuring healthy ocean ecosystems is essential to us all. Every second breath we take is generated by the oceans. Reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere is a key part of lowering the stress on oceans.
This fall Living Oceans Society is hosting a Climate Change and Oceans Think Tank to begin development of an action plan to help our ailing oceans. Key scientific experts will join strategic thinkers in mapping concrete steps that can begin to lessen the threat of climate change to ocean health. Watch our website for more information.
Listen to Energy Campaign Manager Oonagh O'Connor on CBC Radio One Daybreak North talk about what Bush's announcement could mean for the B.C. coast. Oonagh also explains why drilling for offshore oil will not lower the price of gas at the pumps.
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What do you have to say about the ocean? |
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This year is Living Oceans Society’s 10th birthday and we want to
celebrate by singing about the ocean. But we need your help with lyrics
that we’ll set to music. The ocean song will be based on the “complaints choir” idea that started in Finland and has caught on all over the world. Our song won’t just be complaints though. We want to know what comes to mind when you think of the ocean. Words like flashers, kelp island, sea smoke, booby; place names like Metlakatla, Blow Hole, Insect Island; or whole sentences like “you forgot to lock the pig” or “sea lice suck” or “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” We’ll take your contributions, weave them together and set them to the melody we are writing, and then practice like crazy. We’ll perform the song at our 10th anniversary bash. And we might even post it to our website. |
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Share your photos of summer on the water |
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We’re always looking for great photos of people or wildlife on the coast. If you’d like to see your photos featured in a Living Oceans Society publication or web site, please send it to photos@livingoceans.orgYou don’t have to be a professional photographer. All you need is a picture taken on a vessel, kayak or canoe, near (or under) the water. We’ll post the best photos at www.livingoceans.org/photos/ A special gift will be given to the photographers of our three favourite pictures. You must have full rights to publish the photograph. All photographers will be given photo credit. We will not sell your images or grant others the right to use your images. Send us your favourite photos of coastal folks or ocean wildlife. You’ll be joining the good company of John Brouwer whose magnificent photos enhance our publications and inspire people to protect the ocean. |
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Wild Salmon Supporters, SeaChoice and Seafood Watch make choosing sustainable seafood a little easier this season
With the arrival of summer’s backyard barbecues and outdoor dining, the question of what seafood to serve is on the minds of conscientious home and professional chefs alike. When it comes to salmon, the toughest question we face is: what is the most sustainable choice?
This year, buying sustainable salmon has been made more difficult by the closure of the commercial salmon fisheries in California and Oregon. And unfortunately, farmed salmon is still not a sustainable alternative to wild. Industrial open net-cage salmon farming is causing immeasurable environmental damage, loss of traditional foods to coastal First Nations and economic uncertainty for coastal communities.
For Wild Salmon Supporters—the chefs, restaurants, and retailers who are committed to not serving farmed salmon until the industry moves to closed and contained production systems—the decline in wild fish has meant getting creative with their menus. Wild Salmon Supporters are getting their salmon from specific stocks in Alaska or B.C. that are still healthy. They are also looking into sustainable operations like a freshwater contained salmon farm in Langley, B.C., or diversifying their summer menus to offer other delicious and plentiful seafood varieties.
Whether non professional chefs and seafood lovers are eating out or eating in, they can check out these helpful resources:
SalmonSupporters.com - for a list of restaurants and retailers that don’t sell farmed salmon from open net-cages
SeaChoice.org - Canada’s best guide for information about seafood choices
SeafoodWatch.org - the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s program is a great source for information about sustainable seafood in the US
