The Full Report

The Issues: Oceans

Oceans are a huge storehouse for carbon and exert a huge influence on our climate. We need to ensure the continued health of ocean systems as a buffer against climate change, as an important global food source, and as a biodiversity reservoir. Without action to address climate change, oceans will become increasingly acidified (from increased CO2), their habitats will likely become less productive, and their water levels will rise -- threatening coastal areas and low-lying islands.

For species such as salmon, warming oceans are adding to the stress already caused by over harvesting. In fact, the greatest current threat to marine biodiversity remains over-fishing -- recent studies have shown that the majority of large fish in the sea are gone. However, human activities like aquaculture and coastal oil drilling are also expanding and creating serious environmental challenges for ocean species.

We need to stop thinking of oceans as simply water and start seeing them as complex ecosystems that, just like land-based systems, can benefit from intelligent planning and the creation of protected areas.

Unfortunately, Canada's progress on meeting its national and international commitments to protecting marine life has been excruciatingly slow. We will need to turn the current ripples of action into a tidal wave of activity if we are going to meet commitments like completing a national network of marine protected areas by 2012. A good start for the federal government would be to accelerate the implementation of the Oceans Actwith adequate funding.

Canada also needs to address domestic over-fishing in our waters, and the serious impacts of fishing gear on marine habitats and sensitive areas. Bottom trawling is particularly harmful, damaging large areas of marine habitat, catching huge numbers of unwanted fish that are then discarded, and consuming more fossil fuel per tonne of fish captured than any other fishing method.

Canada's Oceans Action Agenda:

Immediately prohibit bottom trawling and other harmful forms of fishing in sensitive areas, prohibit expansion of bottom trawling into previously untrawled areas, and restrict its use to areas that have already been heavily fished for decades.
Immediately recommit to the moratorium on offshore oil-and-gas development and commit to a moratorium on oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker traffic on the British Columbia coast.
Immediately base aquaculture policy on the best internationally recognized scientific information to ensure that local ecosystems and species are not harmed.
Accelerate implementation of the Oceans Act with adequate funding.
By 2010, ensure that ecologically significant areas on all of Canada's coasts are given interim protection from industrial practices that threaten their ecological integrity until marine protected areas are put in place.
By 2011, complete the five marine-use planning initiatives currently underway and identify additional marine regions for future planning initiatives that will lead to comprehensive ocean zoning.
By 2012, complete a national network of marine protected areas in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Great Lakes in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments.

For further information:

Greenpeace (2008) Challenging the Aquaculture Industry on Sustainability.
David Suzuki Foundation (2007) Dragging our Assets: Toward an Ecosystem Approach to Bottom Trawling in Canada
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (2007) Recommendations for a Federal Nature Conservation Action Plan
WWF Canada (2007) Whales in Hot Water? The Impact of a Changing Climate on Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
WWF Canada (2006) A Policy and Planning Framework for Marine Protected Area Networks in Canada's Oceans
WWF Canada (2006) Marine Ecosystem Conservation for New England and Maritime Canada: A Science-Based Approach to Identifying Priority Areas for Conservation

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