A plan to create a vast network of marine protected areas stretching from Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border inched closer to reality this Monday after the governments of Canada, British Columbia and over a dozen First Nations released a draft plan to the public. If enacted, the marine protected areas (MPAs) would protect nearly a third of the Northern Shelf Bioregion — a 100,000-square-kilometre tract of ocean also known as the Great Bear Sea.
Canada’s marine protected areas aren’t as safe as you think
As the globe’s “do or die” UN climate conference gets underway next week, Canada must scale up efforts to meet its ambitious ocean conservation targets to simultaneously prevent the wholesale collapse of marine biodiversity and tackle climate change, experts say. As the largest ecosystem on Earth, the ocean is critical to regulating the climate and helping produce oxygen, rain, drinking water, and food, as well as sustaining livelihoods for three billion people.
‘NO DUMPING’ IN MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ISN’T AS CLEAR AS IT SEEMS
Now we’re watching how the government defines these standards and what the rules will be. For example, there’s currently no definition of what “no dumping” actually means in the context of marine protected areas, or how this commitment will be implemented and enforced. We know dumping wreaks havoc on our environment and poses a risk to wildlife and people. Greywater from sinks, kitchens, showers and washing machines aboard ships can contribute to algal blooms, create ocean dead zones and contain microplastics. Scrubber effluent, which is washwater from cleaning Heavy Fuel Oil exhaust gas, basically turns air pollution into water pollution. Sewage, both treated and untreated, from toilets, can cause fecal contamination in the shellfish we eat.