Toronto, Oct. 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Wildlife Fund Canada welcomes the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development’s report highlighting shortcomings on the protection of marine mammals. The audit findings further point to the failure of the federal government to implement the urgent and mandatory actions that the Species at Risk Act requires to reduce threats to Canada’s most threatened marine mammals. Canada has a poor track record in recovering species, with at-risk populations continuing to decline by an average of 28 per cent since the Species at Risk Act was introduced in 2002. WWF-Canada continues to call for more timely and effective actions to reduce threats to marine mammals to reverse those trends.
Audit findings:
- The federal government (acting through Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Parks Canada and Transport Canada) has not fully applied existing policies and tools to proactively manage threats to marine mammals from commercial fishing and marine vessels.
- Threats include: entanglements, bycatch, depletion of food sources, noise and disturbance, oil spills and collisions with marine vessels.
- Underutilized tools include long-term planning and management in the form of recovery strategies and action plans under the Species at Risk Act, guidelines for planning and managing marine protected areas, and integrated fisheries management plans.
James Snider, vice-president of science, research and innovation at WWF-Canada, said:
“Today’s audit echoes a warning that WWF-Canada issued last year: the federal government isn’t using the tools in the Species at Risk Act to act quickly to stop wildlife loss. The slow speed at which the government is moving isn’t keeping pace with the steep declines we’re seeing in some marine mammal species, such as southern resident killer whales. The government has the tools to help marine mammals and it isn’t using them. Wildlife can’t wait.”
About marine protected areas
- Marine protected areas (MPAs) can be a powerful tool for protecting endangered species, however the Commissioner’s report highlights how endangered marine mammals are rarely explicitly considered in the planning of MPAs. Only three of Canada’s 11 established MPAs have an objective to protect marine mammals. MPAs should have clear standards on industrial activities, including prohibition on oil and gas, and be part of a well-designed network to protect migratory marine mammals such as the North Atlantic right whale.
About Southern resident killer whales
- Threatened by a depletion in food stocks (chinook salmon), underwater noise and disturbance, and pollution.
- Though listed as Endangered under SARA in 2003, a Recovery Strategy was delayed by four years, the Action Plan was also four years late, and it wasn’t finalized until 2017. In this time period the threats continued to grow, leading to further population decline.
- Only in summer 2018 did the Department of Fisheries and Oceans begin to implement fisheries closures and reductions to address food scarcity for the whales by supporting the recovery of fish stocks.
- Voluntary efforts from shipping and other industries have been helpful, but more needs to be done for long term, permanent and sustained threat reduction.
- WWF-Canada, alongside Ecojustice, David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, asked the Federal Court to review Ottawa’s failure to recommend an Emergency Order to protect the southern resident killer whales under the Species at Risk Act.
About North Atlantic right whales
- Threatened by vessel collisions and gear entanglement.
- Listed as Endangered under SARA in 2005, a Recovery Strategy for this species was not produced until three years past its legal deadline, and the Action Plan was another two years late and has still not been finalized.
- The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada implemented meaningful regulations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2018 for fishing gear restrictions and vessel slow-down zones in response to the deaths of 12 North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters in 2017. However, these regulations require a large commitment in terms of time, effort and money to conduct constant aerial surveys of North Atlantic right whale habitat. Long-term, sustainable solutions are still needed to reduce threats and protect this endangered species.
About World Wildlife Fund Canada
WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.
For further information
Rebecca Spring, senior communications specialist, rspring@wwfcanada.org, +1 647-338-6274