Tag Archives: COSEWIC

Rivers & Oceans

Before the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans: Was DFO’s ‘minimal risk’ assessment a cover-up?

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(Click here to access other presentations taken from the Committee.)

At the May 12 session of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Stan Proboszcz, senior scientist at the Watershed Watch Salmon Society suggested that DFO covered-up some of its own research when it concluded fish farms pose ‘minimal risk’ to wild salmon. He said they appear to have reduced the number of science risk assessments from 10 to 9 because the evidence indicated sea lice harm wild sockeye.

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Rivers & Oceans

Pitfalls of DFO’s current approach and what could replace it

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(Click here to access other presentations taken from the Committee.)

Some of Canada’s top scientists are being asked to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, While it is not clear exactly why this is happening, the common theme running through their presentations is the need for DFO to be more based in scientific evidences and less in the needs of industry.   

In the third of a series of broadcasts gleaned from these reports, Dr Andrew Bateman from the Pacific Salmon Foundation talks about pitfalls in DFO’s current approach and an existing model that could replace it.

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Rivers & Oceans

DFO needs to adopt a science based management model, scientist says 

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(Click here to access other presentations taken from the Committee.)

In the second of a series of posts gleaned from the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Dr John Reynolds proposes that DFO adopt a prime directive “where management objectives are expressly prohibited from influencing science.”

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Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Number of marine species at risk in Salish Sea more than doubled, report says

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A recent report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states “the total number of marine species at risk in the Salish Sea has doubled from 2002 to 2015.” 

The accompanying map shows they are referring to an area that stretches from the Puget Sound to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and north beyond  Cortes and Quadra Islands. Christianne Wilhelmsen executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance, explained this is because the EPA thinks of the Salish Sea as whole entity, rather than dividing it between two nations. While a few of the entries are American, most of the species listed are accompanied by terms like ‘COSEWIC‘, ‘B.C.’ and ‘Canada,’ which shows they come from Canadian sources.

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Animals

Species at Risk on Cortes Island

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Helen Hall has been the Friends of Cortes Island’s (FOCI) Executive Director for close to five years. Autumn Barret Morgan came to FOCI as a summer student and continues on as the volunteer Conservation Assistant. In this morning’s program they talk about species at risk on Cortes Island. 

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