Gulf Oil Spill Provides Wake Up Call for Action on Oceans – Government announcements leading up to Oceans Day encouraging

The federal government this week took steps to improve the health of our oceans, including a move to designate Gwaii Haanas off the north coast of BC as a National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, the designation of three important marine sites as National Wildlife Areas in Nunavut, and the designation of BC’s sponge reef and Newfoundland’s Laurentian Channel as “Areas of Interest” to be reviewed as potential Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

“Canada has an opportunity to become a leader in how we manage and benefit from our oceans, if we make good decisions now”, said Bettina Saier, Oceans Director, WWF-Canada. “Today’s announcements on protected areas are welcome installments in Canada’s long-standing commitment to complete a network of marine protected areas in Canada’s oceans by 2012.”

WWF-Canada is calling for a new, systematic approach to managing our oceans, where integrated management plans are developed using marine spatial planning across all of Canada’s Large Ocean Management Areas. Marine Spatial Planning improves the way we manage, protect and prosper from our ocean resources by designating ocean zones for compatible uses that are most ecologically appropriate in a given area. Zones can range from full conservation to multiple coexisting cultural, recreational and industrial uses. Together with clear performance and safety standards, smart marine plans help safeguard our oceans while providing long-term benefits to coastal communities and industries.

While today’s announcements by the federal government are good news, Canada is making slow progress on its international commitments. Canada has committed through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to protect at least 10 per cent of each of its ecological regions by 2010 and to establish a representative network of MPAs by 2012, respectively. At the current rate of MPA establishment, Canada would meet these commitments in 2064.

“The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a stark reminder that any risk to ocean ecosystems is a risk to our economy,” said Darcy Dobell, Vice President, Pacific Region, WWF-Canada. “Smart planning, careful stewardship, and effective management of our oceans are our best hope to achieve lasting benefits and sustainability for our ocean industries and coastal communities.”

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Note for Editors:
World Oceans Day is held annually on June 8 in honour of our planet’s most diverse and threatened ecosystem. Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it is hoped that World Oceans Day will help raise awareness of the threats to ocean life. http://www.theoceanproject.org/wod

For further information and to arrange interviews please contact:

Stacey McCarthy
Communications Specialist
WWF-Canada
Tel: 902.482.1105 x 41
Cell: 902.209.6457
Email: smccarthy@wwfcanada.org

About WWF-Canada
WWF-Canada is part of WWF, the world’s largest conservation organization. At WWF we advocate and promote lasting solutions to the challenge of balancing growing human need and environmental sustainability. In collaboration with business, government, communities and individuals we take a science-based approach to the protection, management and restoration of environmentally sensitive parts of our planet. Our work includes visionary projects focused on climate change, fresh water and the health of habitat and species across Canada and around the world. For more information on WWF-Canada’s marine work, visit http://www.wwfcastg.wwf.ca/conservation/oceans