MUKILTEO, Wash. — Millions of pounds of Dungeness crab are pulled from Pacific Northwest waters each year in a more than century-old ritual for commercial and recreational fishermen. But as ocean waters absorb more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, U.S. scientists are worried that the ocean’s changing chemistry may threaten the sweet-flavoured crustaceans. Scientists with the National Oceanic and […]
A coastal recovery operation began Tuesday to clear dozens of beaches on the west coast of Vancouver Island of debris and plastics, much of it washed ashore from the 2011 tsunami that swept Japan.
A coordinated marine-debris cleanup described as the largest in Canadian history is underway all along B.C.'s west coast.
Ships striking whales in the open ocean is a major problem, and a University of Victoria-led mission is trying to do something about it.
First Nations “clam gardens” dramatically increase the survival, growth rate and size of shellfish using materials as simple as boulders and crushed shells, according to a new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University and the University of Washington.
The global ocean provides continuous protection on the planet from the worst impacts of climate change. These vast waters do this by capturing 90 per cent of the excess heat generated from man-made greenhouse gas warming and over 30 per cent of the carbon dioxide released from our burning of fossil fuels. This protection doesn’t come without costs. The added heat causes ocean water to expand exacerbating sea level rise. And carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater makes the ocean more acidic, detrimentally impacting the health of the ocean and the life. This ocean life is central to the livelihood of millions of people where 20 per cent of Earth’s population consumes fish as their primary source of protein.
Jim Pattison’s Buy-Low Foods chain is the first major grocer in North America to replace all the “red-listed” species in its fresh and frozen seafood selection with sustainable alternatives, according to SeaChoice.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his diverse, representative cabinet on Nov. 4, with Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo appointed as the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Will Minister Tootoo create fisheries policies “by looking at evidence and listening to scientists,” as Trudeau promised at a rally of supporters on that euphoric day after the federal election? It certainly would be a refreshing change from the ways of Tootoo’s predecessor, Gail Shea, in the Harper-led cabinet. I hope that this sea change in Ottawa will reverberate across the country to protect Pacific herring, a forage fish upon which, not only British Columbia marine ecosystems, but also coastal B.C. First Nations, such as the Haida, Heiltsuk, and Nuu-chah-nulth, depend.
Owner sommelier Mark Taylor reminds us Monday nights at Siena, 1485 West 12th Avenue is half-price wine night, and that means the entire wine list.
Hanging from a bookshelf in the corner of Scott Renyard’s cluttered home office, there’s a kitschy carving of a half-dozen tiny fish dangling from a wooden sign that reads: “Born to Fish Forced to Work!”
B.C. has the opportunity to conserve “globally rare” quiet habitat for endangered and noise-sensitive whales and dolphins, but fast action is required, say the authors of a new study.
When Jane Mundy wrote The Ocean Wise Cookbook five years ago, most of the chefs who contributed recipes were from Vancouver where the move to seafood sustainability in restaurants began in Canada. The Ocean Wise Cookbook 2 (Whitecap Books) is fresh off the presses and this time, it’s truly Canadian with chefs from across Canada contributing 150 recipes using sustainable seafood from local waters. “This time, once I got in touch with them, they were all willing,” says Mundy.
Researchers at the University of B.C. say the world’s monitored seabird populations have dropped 70 per cent since the 1950s.
Marine debris continues to injure B.C. sea lions. A team from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre saved another female Steller sea lion from a packing strap that was slowly killing her. B.C. residents can help by picking up litter and debris from shorelines, to prevent it from getting in the aquatic ecosystem. For more information about The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup visit shorelinecleanup.ca.
There was a large return of sockeye to the mouth of the Fraser River in 2014, but some conservation and First Nations groups say fisheries officials are too focused on commercial interests and allowing more aggressive catches that are causing runs to fail meeting the government’s own spawning targets. The total number of fish that made it back to spawning grounds last year fell short by 1.4 million or almost 20 per cent because fisheries officials authorized overfishing and ignored scientific advice and warning signs, according to Watershed Watch Salmon Society, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that monitors wild salmon.
A group opposed to artificial reefs has filed a petition in court in a bid to stop a group from sinking a 115-metre warship off Gambier Island on the Sunshine Coast.