Awhile ago I watched a CBC news program that featured David Suzuki and then Environment Minister Jim Prentice take a tour of the Gwaii Haanas Park. In the words of Jim Prentice: "Protection will extend from mountain tops to sea floor" The area is protected, according to the Parks Canada website, in 10 Kilometers offshore from the park in every direction, a total of 3,400 square Kilometers. This seems pretty extensive and good for the environment. But after mentioning this to my ecology professor Dr. Reimchen, the entire work seemed to upset him.
"It's a farce. The problem with the proposal of these Marine Protected Areas is that it doesn't include a ban on commercial fishing, which is entirely the problem why the area needs to be protected in the first place."
When I consulted the Parks Canada website further, this seemed to be true, at least in a lie of omission. Nowhere in the description of the Marine Protected Areas, or any information specific to the Gwaii Haanas Park, does it mention what exactly creating the MPA does or what it changes. From the Parks Canada website:
"A National Marine Conservation Area is a type of marine protected area managed by Parks Canada. The objective of the National Marine Conservation Areas Program is to protect, and conserve, for all time, marine areas that are representative of Canada's oceans and Great Lakes. The idea is to balance protection and sustainable use. The program is also intended to increase public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of our marine heritage."
As usual lots of talk without saying anything. They state an objective without any concrete rules or regulation, because, well, there probably aren't any.
1 comment:
This is true. I used to work on the Greenbelt urban containment boundary around Toronto (or the one around Victoria, which is now pretty much a joke) The debate on "protected areas" is whether we should bluntly draw a line and protect whole areas or protect systems. Of course, this because a problem with water systems, particularly the ocean, since they have no flows or limits, but are essentially are massive systems that flow in every direction.
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