Media Releases

Living Oceans lambasted the federal government today for its repeated failure to provide for safe navigation on B.C.’s North Coast, citing the imminent risk of the container ship Simushir grounding along the treacherous outer coast of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. “The failure to provide for rescue tug capacity on the North Coast puts these incredibly sensitive marine ecosystems at unacceptable risk from shipping,” said Executive Director Karen Wristen.

VANCOUVER—Living Oceans Society applauds the report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Julie Gelfand, released today in Ottawa. “Commissioner Gelfand’s criticism of the federal government’s lack of progress on climate change is richly deserved, particularly in response to the Conservative’s failure to move forward with promised regulation of emissions from the oil and gas sector,” said Karen Wristen, Executive Director of Living Oceans Society.

VANCOUVER—The federal Cabinet’s approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal is no guarantee that the controversial project will ever be built, environmental groups said today. “Eighteen months of regulatory hearings made one thing clear: Northern Gateway is a risky and unnecessary project that does not serve the national interest of Canada or Canadians,” said Ecojustice staff lawyer Barry Robinson. 

Living Oceans delivered a scathing rebuke of the federal government’s announcement today on tanker safety.  “Most of this is not news,” said Karen Wristen, Executive Director. “What is new is bad news for taxpayers.”

SOINTULA, B.C.—Farmed Atlantic salmon were estimated to be present in over half of surveyed rivers and streams according to modeling conducted for an article recently published online in the journal Biological Invasions. Living Oceans is calling on Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea to stop approving new net-cage salmon farms until she can provide the public with clear evidence that Canada’s rivers are not being colonized by invasive species.

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and Living Oceans Society (LOS) spoke out today against the cloud of secrecy obscuring federal government approvals of genetically modified (GM) organisms in Canada – including what may be the world’s first GM food animal to hit supermarket shelves: AquAdvantage™ salmon.

OTTAWA – All Canadians can play an important role in protecting the future of our fisheries and marine life, according to a group of national sustainable seafood programs, celebrity chefs and NGOs who are renewing calls to have March 18 recognized as National Sustainable Seafood Day in Canada.

Living Oceans today released a report that examines the major threats to whale recovery posed by plans to increase in oil tanker traffic on Canada’s Pacific coast. Justified in the Circumstances: Whales or Supertankers? states that in order to protect whales as required by the Species at Risk Act, neither the Northern Gateway nor the Trans-Mountain pipeline and tanker projects can proceed.

Environmental groups want a court to decide if the federal government violated its own law by permitting the manufacture of genetically modified salmon in Canada. “Canadians expect their government to implement, not ignore, the laws that protect our ecosystems from harm,” said Tanya Nayler, one of the Ecojustice lawyers representing Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society. “By granting approval for this genetically modified species without obtaining all the legally required information, the government has failed to meet their legal obligation.”