A new study suggests that ‘the Blob’ of warmer ocean temperatures, which stretched over 3,200 kilometres off the coast of North America at its peak in 2014 and 15, may have temporarily dampened the Pacific’s ‘biological pump’ that acts as a carbon sink for fixed atmospheric carbon.
Continue reading The ‘Blob’ may have temporarily dampened the Pacific Ocean’s ‘biological pump,’ study suggestsCategory Archives: Rivers & Oceans
Harvesting 8,000 Chum Salmon eggs from Basil Creek
Around 8,000 Chum Salmon eggs were harvested in Basil Creek, Cortes Island, on Friday, October 29th.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Friends of Cortes Island Streamkeepers (FOCI) and the Klahoose Hatchery were hoping to collect up to 40,000 eggs.
DFO Community Advisor Stacey Larsen said that if enough Chum return, there may be another chance to collect eggs this week.
Continue reading Harvesting 8,000 Chum Salmon eggs from Basil Creek
Canada’s marine protected areas aren’t as safe as you think
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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.
An invaluable asset for mitigating the climate crisis, the ocean absorbs about 30 per cent of the carbon dioxide produced by humans while weathering an increasing number of marine heat waves, ocean acidification, oxygen and biodiversity loss, and pollution and plastics.
Continue reading Canada’s marine protected areas aren’t as safe as you think
A more environmentally friendly source of employment for communities
The President of the Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) says eco-tourism could offer communities a reliable and more environmentally friendly source of employment than either fish farms or resource extraction.
“There are some viable alternatives, if they had a fair shake and didn’t get booted out every time a clear cut wanted to go in,” said Breanne Quesnel, who is also one of the co-owners of Spirit of the West Adventures on Quadra Island. “As rural communities, it is very important that we sit down and have discussions about what we want our communities to look like and how we’re going to get there.”
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Southern resident killer whales are not starving due to lack of BC chinook, study finds
The widespread belief that at-risk southern resident killer whales are starving due to a lack of chinook salmon has been debunked.
Continue reading Southern resident killer whales are not starving due to lack of BC chinook, study finds