Living Oceans Media Releases 2008-06-05 23:00:00

Canada lagging behind Australia and the United States

June 6, 2008

Vancouver, B.C. – Canada has the legislation and policy in place, but its dismal record on implementing a comprehensive network of marine protected areas (MPAs) earns it a failing grade compared to other countries in its class. This from a progress report card released today by the Living Oceans Society, the David Suzuki Foundation and Sierra Club BC illustrating Canada’s poor performance on protecting ocean environments.

Because less than 0.5 per cent of Canada’s ocean area is protected, the report card Canada takes home is no reason to celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8th. Congratulations for Canada’s efforts might come after it changes its behaviour, learns from its classmates and starts doing its homework, according to these three groups.

“Canada has the smallest area of ocean protected, has invested the least financial resources, and has done little to ensure that representative regions of Canada’s marine waters are safeguarded,” says Kate Willis Ladell, Marine Planning and Protected Areas Campaign Manager for Living Oceans Society. “Canada has successfully created the necessary legislation and policies, but they’re not worth very much if they’re not applied,” says Ladell.

Australia and the US, whose total areas of federally designated MPAs are 32 and 16 times larger than Canada’s respectively, received passing grades. Australia also received a gold star for using marine planning processes to deliver a significant number of marine protected areas in a timely way that fully respects the people who use the ocean.

“This kind of comprehensive marine use planning is the only way to establish a network of marine protected areas that’s both effective and timely,” says Colin Campbell, Marine Campaign Coordinator for the Sierra Club British Columbia. “Canada has committed to a marine planning process on all three coasts but unlike the United States or Australia, Canada has failed to commit enough money to make this a reality.”

Living Oceans Society, Sierra Club BC, and the David Suzuki Foundation are calling on the government to immediately launch comprehensive and well-resourced marine planning processes designed to establish networks of MPAs throughout Canada’s oceans. These processes should include clear and measurable timelines and targets for MPA establishment.

“Canada has good intentions and good policy and tries hard, but in the final assessment, its performance is poor. Canada needs to spend more time and effort actually delivering results, designating MPAs and conservation plans at a much more rapid pace.” says Bill Wareham, Senior Marine Conservation Specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation.

Marine protected areas protect sensitive and vulnerable marine ecosystems and the creatures that live within their boundaries. There is strong scientific consensus that MPAs with strict conservation regulations are a highly effective yet under-utilized tool to alleviate the global decline in marine ecosystem health.

Contacts:

Kate Willis Ladell, Living Oceans Society, (778) 233-0512 www.livingoceans.org

Bill Wareham, David Suzuki Foundation, (604) 740-4318 www.davidsuzuki.org

Colin Campbell, Sierra Club British Columbia, (250) 361-6476 www.sierraclub.bc.ca

Download the Marine Protected Areas Report Card

Living Oceans Media Releases 2008-06-05 23:00:00

Government Misses World Oceans Day Deadline; Fails to Make Noticeable Progress on B.C. Marine Use and Conservation Plan

June 9, 2008
 
Vancouver, B.C. – The Federal Government has failed to meet the June 8th World Oceans Day deadline to initiate a planning process for BC’s threatened North Coast waters, leading environmental groups said today.

In February 2008, the David Suzuki Foundation, Living Oceans Society and Sierra Club BC asked Ottawa to fulfill its mandate to establish a marine conservation planning process in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA), a region which includes the marine waters from Campbell River to Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii on the BC coast. The groups set World Oceans Day as a deadline.

“The health of our ocean will continue to deteriorate if we don’t take steps to improve ocean management and establish conservation areas in sensitive ocean environments,” says Bill Wareham, Senior Marine Conservation Specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation. “Government is moving far too slowly in establishing a planning process that will ensure BC’s coast is managed in a way that’s good for marine life and good for the people that live there.”

The environmental organizations’ campaign includes an initiative called PNCIMA Watch, which tracks and reports on government’s progress toward establishing the marine use and conservation planning process for PNCIMA, home to 9,000-year-old glass sponge reefs and one of the world’s most endangered whales, the blue whale.  

The PNCIMA Watch initiative has elicited a groundswell of support since its launch in February. Hundreds of people have signed up for its monthly e-newsletter reporting on the status of progress.  In addition, more than 20 scientists from across Canada recently signed a consensus declaration calling on the government to start and fund a PNCIMA planning process.

“Ocean ecosystems are of tremendous value to Canadians, but that value is being eroded in the absence of good governance and policy,” says Kai Chan, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. “All the pieces are in place for major breakthroughs, and First Nations and many stakeholders are ready. Now it’s time for the federal government to get on board.”

This past February, when the environmental organizations launched the “Countdown to Oceans Day Campaign,” they sent a countdown clock to Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn and other MPs in Ottawa that counted the days to June 8, 2008, World Oceans Day. They established a series of steps for government to take, including:

• Ratifying a federal/provincial and First Nations protocol for marine-use planning;
• Establishing a planning process structure that included the participation of coastal residents;
• Assigning a multidisciplinary team to conduct effective research and analysis on critical marine issues;
• Establishment of a marine-planning secretariat to operate the planning process.

“It is truly disappointing to see none of the recommendations we made met by the Oceans Day deadline,” said Jennifer Lash, Executive Director of Living Oceans Society. “The inability of the Federal Government and DFO in particular, to make noticeable progress on PNCIMA in the past several months is of serious concern. We have tried to work collaboratively with government to get this process going but it is now obvious that more public pressure is needed.”

PNCIMA is an area of high ecological, social, and economic importance and encompasses approximately 88,000 square kilometres. Current management is inefficient, too narrowly focused, and contributes to unnecessary environmental degradation.

More information on the PNCIMA Watch initiative can be found at www.PNCIMAwatch.ca.

Contacts:

Jennifer Lash, Living Oceans Society, (250) 741-4006

Bill Wareham, David Suzuki Foundation, (604) 740-4318

Colin Campbell, Sierra Club British Columbia, (250) 361-6476

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