Tag Archives: Crabs

Rivers & Oceans

In wake of right whale’s death, feds launch overdue whale-safe gear strategy

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada has rolled out its overdue whale-safe fishing gear strategy days after an endangered North Atlantic right whale, known as Division, died from entanglement after more than a month of suffering. 

The four-year old male, which had been spotted in Canadian waters during the summer, was next sighted off the Georgia coast in early December severely ensnared by fishing lines cutting across his head and blowhole. Rescue crews were able to remove some of the gear and continued efforts to track and intercept the whale — but its health continued to decline before being confirmed dead on Jan. 27. 

Continue reading In wake of right whale’s death, feds launch overdue whale-safe gear strategy →
Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Ancient clam gardens nourish the Mamalilikulla’s past and future

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mamalilikulla Chief Winidi, or John Powell, wiggles his pitchfork back and forth to loosen the sand and gravel along a remote stretch of beach in the Broughton Archipelago, sandwiched between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland.

As he churns over layers of sediment, a fistful of clams surface with a couple of disturbingly large, fiery red marine worms that flail hundreds of legs to rapidly burrow back into the sand.

“Look at all those worms. That’s a good sign,” Powell said.  

“You see those a lot when you’re digging. They seem to aerate the soil.” 

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Cost of Climate Change

B.C. launches blueprint to fend off climate’s ‘one-two punch’ on the ocean

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

B.C. has unveiled an action plan to tackle the two greatest climate threats to the ocean, coastal communities and marine ecosystems on the West Coast. 

Ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH), or plummeting oxygen levels, that often occur in tandem with a snowball effect, are spiking due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. 

The plan’s goals include strengthening scientific collaboration and research and public awareness on these issues. Finding ways to adapt to or mitigate the negative impacts of OAH is also a priority. 

The province also wants a better understanding of how or if blue carbon — CO2 captured naturally from the atmosphere by marine plants and algae — could or should be used as a natural solution to buffer acidification and hypoxia.  

Continue reading B.C. launches blueprint to fend off climate’s ‘one-two punch’ on the ocean →
Rivers & Oceans

The ocean’s kelp forests are worth serious coin

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Underwater forests represent an average of $500 billion annually in benefits to commercial fisheries, ocean pollution removal and carbon absorption, a new international study shows.

The study is the first to examine the value of kelp’s ocean canopies — found along a third of the world’s shores and on all three of Canada’s coasts, said Canadian co-author Margot Hessing-Lewis, a researcher with the Hakai Institute and the University of British Columbia. 

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Environment

Why do oceans matter for climate change?

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the climate crisis gets worse, oceans — the planet’s greatest carbon sink — can no longer be overlooked. 

Spanning 70 per cent of the globe, oceans have absorbed nearly a third of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans and 90 per cent of the excess heat those gases create. 

The heat stored in the Earth’s entire atmosphere is equal to what’s stored in the top few metres of our oceans. If that wasn’t enough, oceans produce more than 50 per cent of the planet’s oxygen and regulate our climate and weather patterns. 

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