Delayed Killer Whale Recovery Strategy

After nearly a year of unlawful delays, the latest caused by the Canadian military, environmental groups issued a warning to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) today to release the Recovery Strategy for BC's famous resident killer whales, or face a lawsuit. The Southern Resident Killer Whales are an endangered species under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA). Under SARA a team of marine scientists was tasked with creating a science-based plan that identifies habitat, conservation threats, and recovery recommendations. For the last year, DFO has blocked the release of the Team's Recovery Strategy, which DFO was legally required to release by June 1, 2006. Additionally, according to a Canadian military document, the Department of National Defence (DND) is trying to downplay and re-write scientists' concerns over military sonar threats to killer whales in BC waters. The Canadian military conducts sonar testing in the whales' habitat, often in joint operations with the US Navy. "Even the military acknowledges that sonar threatens whales with harm," said Christianne Wilhelmson of Georgia Strait Alliance. "The military must stop interfering with this science-based Recovery Strategy, and we call on the Canadian government to release it immediately." As an example of DND efforts to weaken the Recovery Strategy, it wants to remove the scientists' recommendation that new laws to reduce injury to killer whales from sonar testing be considered. The military is arguing that Canadian and American naval vessels operating in Canadian waters should not be bound by sonar-specific regulations. "Military objectives have no place in a killer whale recovery strategy," said Gwen Barlee of the Wilderness Committee. "If battleships trump science we won't be able to recover this species. "The Species at Risk Act requires Recovery Strategies to follow strict timelines to protect endangered species, to discourage bureaucrats from talking endlessly while a species faces extirpation," said Lara Tessaro of Sierra Legal. "DFO delays risk not only the Killer Whales, but many endangered marine mammals and fish as well." The environmental groups have sent DFO a letter, threatening to file a lawsuit if DFO does not release the Resident Killer Whale Recovery Strategy by June 4, 2007.

Canadian News Wire

Stop the Whaling

The Japanese, Norwegian and Icelandic governments plan to cull over 900 whales in the next year (including endangered fin whales), and to continue such practices indefinitely. The whaling ban was put into place by the International Whaling Commission to protect these mammals, due to the unsustainable manner in which they were culled in the past. Their reproductive cycle is far too slow to compensate for the losses sustained continuously due to the actions of Norway, Japan and Iceland, amongst others. The scientific research that is planned is non-existent, and whale meat remains unpopular in the commercial food markets of the countries involved. The European Union Commission is a world leader in the field of animal welfare and the responsible use of resources - we urge the prime minister, as our representative, to increase import tax for goods originating from the nations involved in commercial whaling, until the ban is once again adhered to. If commercial whaling goes ahead, a matter of time separates us from the untempered ravaging of oceans by a few select nations.

Sign the Petition

Canadian Shipping Act Cruise Ship Regulations

Victoria , B.C. - Travel Just, a B.C.-based environmental group tracking cruise ship pollution for years are declaring the long-awaited reforms to the Canadian Shipping Act (new Regulations for Prevention of Pollution from Shipping and Dangerous Chemicals) announced in Hull, P.Q today by Federal Ministers Lawrence Cannon and John Baird a "Greenwash of Oceanic Magnitude." " These newly announced regulations repeal 8 sets of shipping regulations, replacing them with the weaker contaminant standards of earlier voluntary guidelines co-crafted by the cruise industry. Transport Canada now provide the cruise industry with a regulatory loophole large enough to permit the human waste plume from the wake of the cruise ship fleet with over a million passengers aboard -- to drift without penalty," says Howard Breen, Marine Campaign Coordinator of Travel Just. Cruise ships are floating cities, carrying 5,000 or more people that on a one-week voyage can generate more than:

--1.5 million gallons of "graywater" (wastewater from sinks, showers,
galleys, and laundry facilities)

--200,000 gallons of sewage, and

--35,000 gallons of oil-contaminated water

The cruise industry has a legacy of polluting the seas. >From 1993 to 2003,
cruise ships committed more than 300 acts of dumping oil, garbage,
hazardous waste, sewage and graywater, violating air pollution laws,
inflicting damage to coral reefs, and falsifying environmental records,
paying more than $80 million (U.S.) in fines and restitution within U.S.
coastal waters.

Environmental Fines compiled by cruise ship expert Dr. Ross Klein, (Professor at Memorial University and author of several books about the industry). Loopholes in the new regulations found by Travel Just include (not
exhaustive list):

* There are no overall principles, objectives or goals of the new
regulation that refer to protecting public health or the environment only
to meeting minimum requirements;
* A table of penalities and fines for enforceability and deterrence of
violations is not referenced in the regulations;
* There is no provision for effluent or incinerator ash monitoring,
sampling and testing;
* Where and when concentrated sewage sludge can be discharged is not
specifically addressed;
* Greywater (from sinks, showers, pools, kitchens, etc.) is not regulated;
* All vessels with so-called advanced wastewater treatment systems will be
able to discharge anywhere -- even in port;
* There is no provision to end cruise ship tertiary treatment effluent or
sludge discharging in Canadian marine protected areas;
* The discharge of garbage under the new regulations are less stringent
than 2004 Guidelines (reduced from 4 to 3 miles);
* Incinerator ash disposal containing heavy metals from thousands of
tonnes of burned garbage aboard ships is not prohibited ;
* Waste streams from cruise ships not previously addressed in regulation
continue to remain unaddressed;
* Vessel disclosure, inspection and reporting mechanisms for all waste
streams from previous regulations have been simplified, reduced, or
eliminated;
* No requirement for the use of low sulphur fuels;
* No new funding mechanism to recoup costs for existing or future increased
inspection regime by by Transport Canada;
* No whistleblower protection or compensation is cited;
* Shipboard incineration of polyvinyl chlorides is not prohibited on all
vessels;
* There is no provision for shellfish or viral pathogen studies;
* There is no public appeal or dispute mechanism cited for other
stakeholders deleteriously impacted by ship discharges;
* No provision for installation of new waste compliance monitoring
(transponders) or independent observers to inspect vessels;
* New regulations are not expected to be gazetted for another year and some
provisions not enacted for another 2-4 years;
* New regulations have not been "harmonized" with stricter regulations in
other U.S. jurisdictions.

" Instead of today's widely-reported crackdown on maritime pollution, through a clever sleight of hand the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has given unprecedented regulatory relief to an industry notorious for environmental felony crimes and fines that are among the highest in U.S. pollution enforcement history," says an equally astonished and concerned Breen. " While it may be somewhat comically appropriate to give the ministers a "Big Poopie" award for this latest Conservative greenwash there is nothing comical whatsoever about the impact of their actions on environmentally sensitive B.C. marine ecosystems and the some 20 endangered coastal species that may become deleteriously affected by ongoing cruise ship pollution," cautioned Breen. "The option of doing nothing in respect to unfettered cruise ship pollution has long passed."

Where Are The New Transport Regulations?

The Government has still not made the latest version of the regulations
publicly-accessible on the Transport Canada website nor provided a link in
today's Ministerial news release.

Contact your Member of Parliament and request a copy.
Ministerial News Release

For further information, please contact: Howard Breen, Marine Campaign Coordinator, Travel Just(250) 247-8813

Further reading on the cruise ship industry

New Baby Girl for J pod

Photographs taken May 6, 2007, off Freshwater Bay (west of Port Angeles, WA) lead staff at the Center for Whale Research to believe that J42 is a female based on the distinctive markings on the underside of the belly of this young calf (seen May 2, 2007, J42 joins pod, traveling alongside mother J16).