Photo: NOAA By Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press VICTORIA – Triple threats of pollution, vessel noise and the availability of food are making it hard for a group of orcas that live along the continent’s West Coast to increase beyond an estimated population of 80, says a decade-long U.S. study. Southern
Continue readingTag: Ocean Health
The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair: Howe Sound under siege
Boaters raise the alarm over plans to re-industrialize Howe Sound (Future of Howe Sound Society) Howe Sound is Canada’s southernmost fjord. It is a natural beauty which should be declared a world-class heritage site. I grew up as a child on Howe Sound and well remember the men with the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops
NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen challenges the Harper government in question period over its failure to act on climate change and 10 million scallops that died in BC recently from ocean acidification. The post Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops appeared first on The Common Sense
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cut adrift by Harper govt, Ocean pollution expert joins aquarium
Dr. Peter Ross (photo: Tanya Brown/aquablog.ca) World-renowned ocean pollution scientist Dr. Peter Ross will continue his work through the Vancouver Aquarium, after the federal program he oversaw was shut down by the Harper Government. The Common Sense Canadian published this farewell letter by Ross in 2012, after he learned that Canada’s only ocean pollution monitoring
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ocean acidification accelerates in Arctic, threatening food web: study
Ocean acidification affects shell growth for marine life (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme) Research conducted at an ice camp high in the frozen North – part of the Catlin Arctic Survey – suggests climate change is threatening the Arctic Ocean’s food web by making those waters more acidic. The scientists, who
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Douglas Coupland-narrated video shows ship noise impacts on whales
For threatened whale populations, sound is essential to every element of their lives – from eating and mating to family connection. In a new video on the subject, narrator and famed BC author Douglas Coupland explains: You can think of sound as their dinner menu, their 9-11, J-date, e-harmony, GPS,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Despite Fukushima radiation, scientists say West Coast fish is safe
Following Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, fear spread about risks of leaked radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – for the health of those living in or near Fukushima or involved in cleanup efforts, and for the planet and the potential impacts on our complex marine food
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: ‘Alarming’ sea star die-off on West Coast
A dead morning sun star (photo courtesy of Jonathan Martin) VANCOUVER – Last month, a diver alerted Vancouver Aquarium staff that he had found a number of dead and decaying sunflower sea stars in the cold Pacific waters of a popular dive spot just off the shore of West Vancouver.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Japan’s Fukushima radiation crisis: a Good News/Bad News story
Fukushima’s crippled Reactor 4, which contains 1,500 precariously-perched, radioactive fuel rods Addiction experts say the first step toward recovery is recognizing you have a problem. In that sense, perhaps we’re finally making some progress on what may be the greatest single threat humanity has ever faced: the nuclear catastrophe at
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