Island News & Views
General · 23rd October 2008
Sierra Club BC
SUNDAY OCTOBER 26 at the Community Centre: Sierra Quadra presents an evening with Dr Colin Campbell, speaking on the need for marine use planning for our coastal environment. (See the Calendar for details.)
British Columbia’s coastal waters, home to some of the richest marine ecosystems left on Earth, are in immediate need of better management. From 9,000 year-old sponge reefs and underwater forests of coldwater corals to marine mammals, giant octopus and a vast array of smaller species like starfish, molluscs, and crustaceans galore there are almost 7,000 marine species—almost 4% of the world’s total marine species live in B.C.’s coastal waters.
Like marine environments elsewhere, many components of BC’s coastal ecosystems are experiencing a slow and silent collapse. Thirty-two BC marine species are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern. Fish stock collapses have already taken their toll on the region’s salmon, eulachon, herring and several species of rockfish. Our coastal ecosystems and fishing communities have suffered greatly as a result.
The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA)—the ocean region adjacent to the Great Bear Rainforest has been identified by the federal government as an area that would benefit from a comprehensive marine use planning process. But no process for PNCIMA has been started. The BC ENGO Marine Planning Network has identified the key elements necessary for a successful marine planning process, and is engaged in a coordinated campaign to bring this needed process to life.
The continued lack of a planning process for PNCIMA represents the abdication of responsibility that the federal and provincial governments clearly have under their respective legislation. It is also an abandonment of common sense. The equation is simple: Unhealthy oceans equal an unhealthy planet, which equals an unhealthy situation for humanity. It is not really a choice. Colin Campbell will provide an overview and update on this challenge.
Colin's background
Colin was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and after a youth spent bush-walking and spear-fishing was trained in a Zoology and Palaeontology. He spent the late 60’s and early 70’s in Berkeley, California, acquiring his PhD in studies of marsupial evolution and the ecology of inland Australian, as it was 17 million years ago.
The seeds of environmental concern were planted in the Berkeley years, and a professional fascination with extinction processes led him to an ongoing focus on climate change and conservation issues.
He spent the 90s as a Research Officer in palaeontology at the Australian National University, attached to an international climate change and sea level research program working in Australia, Papua New Guinea and China. He was also involved the analysis of environmental change after the arrival of humans in Australia and the central Pacific.
While living in Canberra Colin also served as a member of the national committee of the Australian Democrats, at a time when they held balance of power in the federal senate. Anticipating a move to activism, he studied environmental law for two years at the Australian National University before returning to Canada in 1998 where he lived on the Sunshine Coast, enjoying trout and salmon fishing on the beaches, streams and small lakes, and working as the Forest Caucus Coordinator for the BC Environmental Network from 2000-2003.
In January 2004 he was elected Chair of the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, and six months later took a staff position there as Marine Campaign Coordinator. Presently, his time is occupied with climate change outreach on behalf of the Sierra Club and climate change issues in the context of Marine Use Planning.
Colin’s view of the ocean is that of a traditional ecologist; recognizing that ecological interactions are myriad and hugely complex, we can only manage these systems by letting them be and controlling the intensity and effects of our own activities. The well-being and abundance of whales and salmon indicate the health and productivity of the oceans, and provide us with an emotional connection to the invisible underwater world. If they are well, we will be well also.
British Columbia’s coastal waters, home to some of the richest marine ecosystems left on Earth, are in immediate need of better management. From 9,000 year-old sponge reefs and underwater forests of coldwater corals to marine mammals, giant octopus and a vast array of smaller species like starfish, molluscs, and crustaceans galore there are almost 7,000 marine species—almost 4% of the world’s total marine species live in B.C.’s coastal waters.
Like marine environments elsewhere, many components of BC’s coastal ecosystems are experiencing a slow and silent collapse. Thirty-two BC marine species are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern. Fish stock collapses have already taken their toll on the region’s salmon, eulachon, herring and several species of rockfish. Our coastal ecosystems and fishing communities have suffered greatly as a result.
The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA)—the ocean region adjacent to the Great Bear Rainforest has been identified by the federal government as an area that would benefit from a comprehensive marine use planning process. But no process for PNCIMA has been started. The BC ENGO Marine Planning Network has identified the key elements necessary for a successful marine planning process, and is engaged in a coordinated campaign to bring this needed process to life.
The continued lack of a planning process for PNCIMA represents the abdication of responsibility that the federal and provincial governments clearly have under their respective legislation. It is also an abandonment of common sense. The equation is simple: Unhealthy oceans equal an unhealthy planet, which equals an unhealthy situation for humanity. It is not really a choice. Colin Campbell will provide an overview and update on this challenge.
Colin's background
Colin was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and after a youth spent bush-walking and spear-fishing was trained in a Zoology and Palaeontology. He spent the late 60’s and early 70’s in Berkeley, California, acquiring his PhD in studies of marsupial evolution and the ecology of inland Australian, as it was 17 million years ago.
The seeds of environmental concern were planted in the Berkeley years, and a professional fascination with extinction processes led him to an ongoing focus on climate change and conservation issues.
He spent the 90s as a Research Officer in palaeontology at the Australian National University, attached to an international climate change and sea level research program working in Australia, Papua New Guinea and China. He was also involved the analysis of environmental change after the arrival of humans in Australia and the central Pacific.
While living in Canberra Colin also served as a member of the national committee of the Australian Democrats, at a time when they held balance of power in the federal senate. Anticipating a move to activism, he studied environmental law for two years at the Australian National University before returning to Canada in 1998 where he lived on the Sunshine Coast, enjoying trout and salmon fishing on the beaches, streams and small lakes, and working as the Forest Caucus Coordinator for the BC Environmental Network from 2000-2003.
In January 2004 he was elected Chair of the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, and six months later took a staff position there as Marine Campaign Coordinator. Presently, his time is occupied with climate change outreach on behalf of the Sierra Club and climate change issues in the context of Marine Use Planning.
Colin’s view of the ocean is that of a traditional ecologist; recognizing that ecological interactions are myriad and hugely complex, we can only manage these systems by letting them be and controlling the intensity and effects of our own activities. The well-being and abundance of whales and salmon indicate the health and productivity of the oceans, and provide us with an emotional connection to the invisible underwater world. If they are well, we will be well also.