It’s the latest in a long line of efforts by the Harper Government to dismantle Canada’s environmental laws in order to facilitate energy development. In a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the National Energy Board – quietly released just before Christmas – DFO relinquished much of its
Continue readingTag: Oceans
The Common Sense Canadian: Motorized boats stir up problems for BC’s salmon rivers
by Will Dubitsky and Jean Clark Two distinct pieces of federal legislation govern activities in and on our rivers, lakes and coastal waters: 1) The Canada Shipping Act, concerning the waterway surface and the protection navigation rights; 2) The Fisheries Act, pertaining to protection of the marine habitat, below the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ocean acidification accelerates in Arctic, threatening food web: study
Ocean acidification affects shell growth for marine life (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme) Research conducted at an ice camp high in the frozen North – part of the Catlin Arctic Survey – suggests climate change is threatening the Arctic Ocean’s food web by making those waters more acidic. The scientists, who
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canadian taxpayers bail out Norwegian fish farms for diseased fish
The only thing keeping profits afloat for a number of Norwegian salmon farms in Canada is the hundreds of millions of dollars they net from taxpayers when their fish die of disease. You might think the multi-billion dollar fish farm industry was a licence to print money. You’d be almost
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper govt extends salmon farm moratorium in BC, critics say DFO ignoring Cohen recommendations
VANCOUVER – Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea says she will not lift the moratorium on aquaculture development in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands for the foreseeable future. The announcement came Wednesday, almost a year after Justice Bruce Cohen released his report into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Douglas Coupland-narrated video shows ship noise impacts on whales
For threatened whale populations, sound is essential to every element of their lives – from eating and mating to family connection. In a new video on the subject, narrator and famed BC author Douglas Coupland explains: You can think of sound as their dinner menu, their 9-11, J-date, e-harmony, GPS,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cohen Commission on salmon: a year later and nothing from DFO
Alexandra Morton with yellow salmon on Mountain Bar, Fraser River (Morton facebook page – Oct. 5) You may have thought the Cohen report on collapsing Fraser River sockeye was a stone dropped through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), leaving not a ripple. You’d be right. Google DFO Cohen
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Despite Fukushima radiation, scientists say West Coast fish is safe
Following Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, fear spread about risks of leaked radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – for the health of those living in or near Fukushima or involved in cleanup efforts, and for the planet and the potential impacts on our complex marine food
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: ‘Alarming’ sea star die-off on West Coast
A dead morning sun star (photo courtesy of Jonathan Martin) VANCOUVER – Last month, a diver alerted Vancouver Aquarium staff that he had found a number of dead and decaying sunflower sea stars in the cold Pacific waters of a popular dive spot just off the shore of West Vancouver.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Japan’s Fukushima radiation crisis: a Good News/Bad News story
Fukushima’s crippled Reactor 4, which contains 1,500 precariously-perched, radioactive fuel rods Addiction experts say the first step toward recovery is recognizing you have a problem. In that sense, perhaps we’re finally making some progress on what may be the greatest single threat humanity has ever faced: the nuclear catastrophe at
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Amazing encounter with Orca pod caught on camera
Check out this amazing encounter with a large pod of orca on BC’s south coast. The home video, captured in Active Pass, off Galiano Island, has garnered well over 300,000 views from around the world in just one week since being posted. The post Amazing encounter with Orca pod caught
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: Global Warming Speeding Up, New Research Shows
Scientists find ‘missing heat’ in deep ocean waters By: Lauren McCauley | Common Dreams: The rate of global warming is speeding up, say scientists, despite the apparent stagnation in the rise of global surface air temperatures that may have prevented people from recognizing “the danger of the climate problem we face.”
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