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New marine biodiversity plan calls for big changes in Canada WWF February 3, 2012 Share: Share This Page: Share with Facebook Share via Twitter Share via Linkedin Share in email Yesterday, the Royal Society of Canada released a new report on Sustaining Canadian Marine Biodiversity It confirms that the outlook on Canada’s oceans remains bleak: less than one percent of our oceans are protected compared to almost 10 per cent of our land. Some rivers in B.C. will slowly dry up and become too warm for young salmon; lobsters may end up with soft shells as the world’s oceans consume more and more of the carbon dioxide generated by burning fossil fuels. And years after the collapse of what was once the world’s biggest fishery, Canada has still not charted a clear course of action to rebuild Newfoundland’s northern cod fishery. The list goes on. © Natalie Bowes / WWF-Canada The thorough analysis of the present situation and future trends concludes with a number of worthy recommendations: – The Fisheries Act (one of the oldest pieces of legislation in Canada) needs a tune up. – Fisheries and Oceans needs to move beyond rhetoric to action in order to fulfill national and international obligations to sustain marine biodiversity. – Fisheries management has to be driven by science rather than politics. – Oceans have to be taken more seriously by the government while the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans should be stripped of power. I am wondering if the government is going to listen to these recommendations. Remember, there are powerful economic disincentives to resist reform, and what’s needed is market and economic incentives to actually overcome resilient institutional and economic barriers. The introduction of powerful incentives will help reform fisheries, and WWF has had success with steering seafood market forces towards conservation objectives. For example, WWF’s Fisheries Improvement Project for Newfoundland cod combines market forces (i.e. the demand for sustainable cod by a UK retailer) with improvements in fisheries management (such as using MSC certification as a tool), with the ultimate objective of rebuilding wild fish stocks. We are perhaps only weeks away from a strong plan for rebuilding the southern Newfoundland cod industry—the absence of which was lamented in the report.
