Earth Walker
September 2nd, 2001, 01:05 AM
This is a very well written article, and it is something very much
worth sharing here at MW.
As long as fish and chips are on the menu, most Canadians
won't realize changes in law and attitude are desparately
needed to protect Planet Ocean.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we live on Planet Ocean, not
Planet Earth. Seventy per cent of the world's surface is covered
by seas, not continent's.
Canada's territorial oceans, for which we have stewardship
responsibilities, include a mind-boggling five-million-square
kilometres of the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Although Canadians have a soft spot for the wildlife that
symbolizes this country's natural heritage, we have a blind spot when it comes to the diversity of life in our seas.
Despite popular icons such as killer whales, belugas and sea
otters, the flora and fauna of Canada's oceans are largely
unknown -- out of sight and out of mind.
A recent assessment of Canadian biodiversity by the federal,
provincial and territorial governments examined more than 1,600
species. Only three per cent of the species studied were marine.
Of the 380 species on Canada's list of endangered species, only
34 are marine. Most marine species in Canada's oceans have never been identified, let alone studied.
In our efforts to manage ecosystems that we do not understand,
we have made terrible errors. Human activities are unravelling the
tapestry of marine life, from the devastating disappearance of
cod on the East Coast to the dramatic declines of both Pacific
and Atlantic salmon.
These disasters might not appear to affect the average Canadian. Fish and chips are still widely available and canned
salmon still goes on sale at supermarkets, making concepts like
extinction seem absurd. Yet even for landlocked Canadians whose
closest brush with marine biodiversity is an occasional meal, oceans are essential to their well-being.
Besides food, oceans contribute to medicine, industry and
tourism, to the tune of $20 billion annually in Canada.
More importantly, oceans provide irreplaceable services, such as
producing oxygen, absorbing carbon dioxide (the main gas involved in global warming) and recycling water.
The fisheries disasters of the 1990's should have shattered our
apathy towards marine ecosystems.
Indeed, there appear to be some signs of hope. In 1994, the
federal government amended the Coastal Fisheries Protection
Act to prevent over-fishing in Canadian waters by foreign fishing
vessels. In 1996, the federal government passed the Oceans
Act, mandating a holistic, ecosystem-based approach to marine
management and authorizing the creation of marine protected
areas. Currently before Parliament is Bill C-5, the Species at
Risk Act, the flawed law intended to protect endangered species
-- both terrestrial and marine. In several high profile cases
during the 1990's, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the
government's primary consideration in making fisheries management decisions must always be conservation.
And yet, despite these indications of progress, we appear to be
slow learners. Canada continues to allow bottom trawling, the
aquatic equivalent of clearcutting. Bottom trawling is a fishing
method that damages the ocean floor and produces wasteful
levels of by-catch, unwanted species that are caught but simply
dumped. Canada continues to use the oceans as toilets,
dumping billions of litres of untreated sewage and industrial
pollutants into the seas from cities like Victoria, Vancouver,
Halifax and St. John's.
On the West Coast, the department of fisheries and oceans continues to allow the capture of rockfish and lingcod despite
population declines of 95 per cent.
Canada continues "fishing down the food web," eliminating
predator species and then targeting their prey, thus wreaking
havoc on marine ecosystems.
Just west of Vancouver, the southern resident population of killer whales is down to fewer than 90 orcas, an alarmingly small
number. These magnificent creatures are disappearing because
of industrial pollution(their bodies are more poisoned than the
St. Lawrence River's toxic belugas), declining chinook salmon
populations(their main food source) and stress from the booming
whale-watching industry.
None of the laws recently passed or proposed, including the
Species at Risk Act, has the necessary teeth to adequately
address these problems and stop the killer whales' tailspin
towards oblivion.
The major direct threats to marine biodiversity are over-exploitation, loss of habitat, pollution, exotic species and global
atmospheric change. Underlying these direct threats are
increasing human population, increasing resource consumption,
pervasive lack of knowledge, weak institutions and failure to
recognize non-economic values and services.
Remedying these vexing problems will take all of the ingenuity that our society can collectively muster.
Although I am an environmental lawyer, I believe that what we
really need to protect Canada's marine biodiversity is more than
new laws and regulations. We need more humility, wisdom,
respect and restraint.
After all, we live on Planet Ocean. While it may be difficult to
fathom, we are distant cousins of fish -- the first true vertebrates
on the family tree of evolution -- and blood is thicker than water.
David R. Boyd is senior associate with the Eco-Research Chair
of Environmental Law and Policy at the University of Victoria.
He is co-author, with Dr. Scott Wallace, of sea Change: Strengthening Bill C-5, the Species at Risk Act, to Protect Marine
Biodiversity, a report recently presented to Parliament's
standing committee on the environment.
worth sharing here at MW.
As long as fish and chips are on the menu, most Canadians
won't realize changes in law and attitude are desparately
needed to protect Planet Ocean.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we live on Planet Ocean, not
Planet Earth. Seventy per cent of the world's surface is covered
by seas, not continent's.
Canada's territorial oceans, for which we have stewardship
responsibilities, include a mind-boggling five-million-square
kilometres of the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Although Canadians have a soft spot for the wildlife that
symbolizes this country's natural heritage, we have a blind spot when it comes to the diversity of life in our seas.
Despite popular icons such as killer whales, belugas and sea
otters, the flora and fauna of Canada's oceans are largely
unknown -- out of sight and out of mind.
A recent assessment of Canadian biodiversity by the federal,
provincial and territorial governments examined more than 1,600
species. Only three per cent of the species studied were marine.
Of the 380 species on Canada's list of endangered species, only
34 are marine. Most marine species in Canada's oceans have never been identified, let alone studied.
In our efforts to manage ecosystems that we do not understand,
we have made terrible errors. Human activities are unravelling the
tapestry of marine life, from the devastating disappearance of
cod on the East Coast to the dramatic declines of both Pacific
and Atlantic salmon.
These disasters might not appear to affect the average Canadian. Fish and chips are still widely available and canned
salmon still goes on sale at supermarkets, making concepts like
extinction seem absurd. Yet even for landlocked Canadians whose
closest brush with marine biodiversity is an occasional meal, oceans are essential to their well-being.
Besides food, oceans contribute to medicine, industry and
tourism, to the tune of $20 billion annually in Canada.
More importantly, oceans provide irreplaceable services, such as
producing oxygen, absorbing carbon dioxide (the main gas involved in global warming) and recycling water.
The fisheries disasters of the 1990's should have shattered our
apathy towards marine ecosystems.
Indeed, there appear to be some signs of hope. In 1994, the
federal government amended the Coastal Fisheries Protection
Act to prevent over-fishing in Canadian waters by foreign fishing
vessels. In 1996, the federal government passed the Oceans
Act, mandating a holistic, ecosystem-based approach to marine
management and authorizing the creation of marine protected
areas. Currently before Parliament is Bill C-5, the Species at
Risk Act, the flawed law intended to protect endangered species
-- both terrestrial and marine. In several high profile cases
during the 1990's, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the
government's primary consideration in making fisheries management decisions must always be conservation.
And yet, despite these indications of progress, we appear to be
slow learners. Canada continues to allow bottom trawling, the
aquatic equivalent of clearcutting. Bottom trawling is a fishing
method that damages the ocean floor and produces wasteful
levels of by-catch, unwanted species that are caught but simply
dumped. Canada continues to use the oceans as toilets,
dumping billions of litres of untreated sewage and industrial
pollutants into the seas from cities like Victoria, Vancouver,
Halifax and St. John's.
On the West Coast, the department of fisheries and oceans continues to allow the capture of rockfish and lingcod despite
population declines of 95 per cent.
Canada continues "fishing down the food web," eliminating
predator species and then targeting their prey, thus wreaking
havoc on marine ecosystems.
Just west of Vancouver, the southern resident population of killer whales is down to fewer than 90 orcas, an alarmingly small
number. These magnificent creatures are disappearing because
of industrial pollution(their bodies are more poisoned than the
St. Lawrence River's toxic belugas), declining chinook salmon
populations(their main food source) and stress from the booming
whale-watching industry.
None of the laws recently passed or proposed, including the
Species at Risk Act, has the necessary teeth to adequately
address these problems and stop the killer whales' tailspin
towards oblivion.
The major direct threats to marine biodiversity are over-exploitation, loss of habitat, pollution, exotic species and global
atmospheric change. Underlying these direct threats are
increasing human population, increasing resource consumption,
pervasive lack of knowledge, weak institutions and failure to
recognize non-economic values and services.
Remedying these vexing problems will take all of the ingenuity that our society can collectively muster.
Although I am an environmental lawyer, I believe that what we
really need to protect Canada's marine biodiversity is more than
new laws and regulations. We need more humility, wisdom,
respect and restraint.
After all, we live on Planet Ocean. While it may be difficult to
fathom, we are distant cousins of fish -- the first true vertebrates
on the family tree of evolution -- and blood is thicker than water.
David R. Boyd is senior associate with the Eco-Research Chair
of Environmental Law and Policy at the University of Victoria.
He is co-author, with Dr. Scott Wallace, of sea Change: Strengthening Bill C-5, the Species at Risk Act, to Protect Marine
Biodiversity, a report recently presented to Parliament's
standing committee on the environment.