World Oceans Day Events
June 8 is officially recognized by the United Nations as World Oceans Day. Each year, an increasing number of countries and organizations mark this day as an opportunity to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea. World Oceans Day raises awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives and the important ways people can help to protect it.
Thousands of leading aquariums, governments, conservation organizations, schools and individuals around the world ...
Doelle-Lahey Recommendations Promote Transparency in Aquaculture
Salmon aquaculture in Atlantic Canada began as a relatively small, family-owned operation off the coast of south western New Brunswick, an economically depraved area of the Maritimes, over 30 years ago.
It’s one claim to fame was the Point LePreau nuclear facility, which has witnessed its own malaise through the years.
Pen-reared, ocean operations produced jobs so both the federal and provincial governments of the day began to pour money into these ventures.
The regulations were few ...
Placentia Bay Tragedy: Bodies of Three Crab Fishermen Recovered Near Bar Haven
Three Newfoundland snow crab fishermen died following an accident in western Placentia Bay, near Davis Cove, June 16.
The men had been reported missing around 7 p.m. when they failed to return home after a fishing trip.
Tuesday night was windy and cloudy, which made for extremely difficult flying conditions for the Cormorant helicopter dispatched from the Search and Rescue Centre in Gander to search for the fishermen.
Maj. Rhonda Stevens, of the Search and Rescue Centre in Halifax, ...
A Captain For All Seasons
Tommy O’Brien was the strong, quiet type.
And, according to Barry Hawkins, his first cousin and close friend, Tommy was as smart as they come.
He was the youngest ever appointed captain with the Canadian Coast Guard, achieving that status in 1993 at the age of 28, just nine years after joining the Coast Guard as a deckhand.
Tommy grew up in Cape Broyle, Newfoundland, on the southern shore of the Avalon Peninsula about halfway between St. John’s and Cape Race.
Although the town ...
Fisheries Science Will Take A Long Time to Recover
The federal government’s gag order on fishery scientists, which is forcing many of them into early retirement, threatens the viability of Canada’s ability to deal with the many changes which are occurring in the ocean abutting Atlantic Canada’s coastal areas.
With global warming and shifts in ocean temperatures, what this will mean to sea life and therefore to the commercial fishing community and to global communities, needs to be studied and understood so that we can all prepare for ...
Newfoundland’s Fight Against Aquatic Invasive Species
An aquatic invader is a non-native species that will likely cause (or has already caused) damage to the host ecosystem and existing species living there.
Prior to 2007, aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Newfoundland and Labrador were limited. The only known species was a bryozoan and colonial tunicate otherwise known as small aggregations of filter feeding aquatic invertebrates that cover surfaces in sites around the province. These are monitored by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans ...
A Nasty Labrador Sea
Red Bay, Labrador is best known these days as a UNESCO World Heritage Site showcasing a Basque whaling station that was active there almost 500 years ago.
This southern Labrador community is now world-renowned.
In the 1500s, the shores of Red Bay were part-time homes to hundreds of Basque whalers who hunted bowhead and right whales for blubber, which were rendered into oil for export to Europe.
On Saddle Island, located at the mouth of the harbour, remnants of whale oil rendering ovens ...
Working Together to Protect the Ocean From Marine Pollution
All Canadians, particularly those who work on the water or live along our coasts, know that healthy oceans and shorelines are important to the economic, physical, and cultural well being of our country. Activities such as fishing, oil and gas exploration and development, transportation of cargo, tourism, and recreation are essential to our daily activities and livelihoods, but make the ocean a busy place.
With all this marine activity, it is important that everyone takes responsibility for ...
CETA-Related Dispute Drags On: Newfoundland Government Announces It Will Not Drop MPRs
The Newfoundland and Labrador provincial government recently declared it will not drop minimum processing requirements (MPRs) to comply with the Canada-Europe free trade deal.
There has been no progress in the ongoing war of words between Ottawa and the provincial government over the joint federal/provincial $400-million fund tied to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development Minister Darin ...
Lobster Marketing Endeavour Stalls in Nova Scotia Due to Lack of Consensus
Geoff Irvine of the Lobster Council of Canada stated the obvious while being interviewed about the lobster industry in the Maritimes — a general agreement on marketing by the Nova Scotia industry won’t happen without the input of South West Nova.
A marketing strategy, while going ahead in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, has stalled in Nova Scotia due to the most productive lobster sector in Canada not being part of initial discussions at a lobster summit in Feb. 2014.
This has ...
