The Canaries in our Waters

Sometimes, a single newspaper can tell a larger tragic story
without even intending to do so.

Such was the case on Friday, August 28th, 2014, when The Telegram featured several disturbing environmental pieces.

The first was front-page story of Gannets in Cape St. Mary's abandoning their young chicks in nests, leaving them to starve. According to seabird biologists, Bill Montevecchi, something similar happened two years ago and he calls the behaviour "extreme".

Over on page A5, another baffling find in our waters. Recreational divers fishing for scallops near Change Islands and Fogo Island found empty scallops in not one, but nine different locations.  A similar eerie find occurred less than a year ago in Port au Port area where divers there found high mortality within scallop shells and with rock crab.

One doesn't have to be a scientist to sense that something may be amiss in our waters. Are these findings the canary in the coal mine for our oceans? Are these unusual outcomes telling us something that we are overlooking?  Are there other unreportable environmental quirks happening that could lead to a comprehensive picture of what is affecting our watery coal mine like overfishing, pollution and ocean acidification?

Most importantly WHO is investigating to try and get to the bottom of both of these incidents and others.  The answer may lie in the same paper - this time on the editorial page in very insightful piece called "Science Inc."

This editorial highlights once again the war on science that Horrible Harper has launched since he landed in the PM's chair.  From slashing scientific budgets to undermining the independence of scientists, this corporate creature continues to drive a profit agenda, at the expense of the environment. His recent Aquaculture regulations attests to this reckless approach.

As the editorial so rightly states "Science should exists as a service to all facets of society, including environmental protection."

It goes on with a more powerful message "The world is more complex than oil and jobs."

It was telling in the scallop story that DFO, upon hearing of the empty shells, asked local  divers to bring in samples, rather than launching a full-scale investigation themselves. It's like the police saying  "Bring in the body - we'll have it analysed."

The editorial points out that the decimation of the East Coast fishery shows the federal government does not have the right stuff, nor the right moral fabric to take care of our fish and our waters.

Tragedies are happening. The canaries are dying.

And there is little or no stewardship priorities in the political corridors of DFO. 

But future generations depend on what we do today.  So do what you can.

Speak up 
Vote up
Vote out

Be on the right side of history.

Rejigging Youth back in the Fishery Boat

Notwithstanding a loss of life,
two bits of good news have been harvested from this summer's food fishery.  

First, reports of the larger Cod is encouraging as it appears our fish are winning the battle against all that has ailed them the past quarter century or more.

The other reassuring aspect is the number of young people featured in social media photos out on the water, getting the smell of the house off them and catching a feed of Cod with their relatives.

If our fishery is ever to rejig itself into a full-fledged sustainable commercial fishery, we need the next generation eager and engaged.

 

And young people out in the boats during the annual food fishery is a dandy way for them to get in touch with their heritage and acquire skills and some understanding of fishing and conservation.
 

For a number of years during the Cod moratorium, young people didn't see a future in the fisheries, let alone see themselves involved in this industry. For these post-moratorium young citizens, the fisheries was something that happened in the past, something their grandfathers did.  Our young people also learned in school that the Newfoundland fishery has been a failure, that it was overfished & no one cares about it anymore. "Our fishery went away" is all they know.
 

Sometimes, children need leadership and positive messaging to lead them into areas where they see no hope or a future.  Thankfully, there are voices trying to push a positive message about our fishery and inspire passion for its future.

Our province's Cod Doc George Rose once stated that: 

We need our children to grow up knowing the benefits
that our fishery brings to the province & their community.
Our children should grow up knowing the benefits to the
biological, social, cultural and economic benefits of our great resource"
 
Kudos also to CURRA (Community-University Research for Recovery Alliance) which kick-started the dialogue a number of times (and even held workshops) to highlight the issue of re-engaging youth in our fishery.  Lead Researcher Barb Neis produced a report on CURRA's 5- year project as it concluded, entitled "Moving Forward - Building Economically, Socially & Ecologically Resilient Fisheries & Coastal Communities". 

 

One of Neis' key messages was that the fisheries is NOT broken and that we must encourage youth in the fisheries.  "Governments, schools and other institutions should encourage young people's interest in,and entry into fisheries ... Our school curriculum is strangely devoid of information about marine ecology and about fisheries as a way of life and as a business. There is also next to nothing in it on fisheries culture and heritage."

In her DVD "Cod, Renewing a Bountiful Catch",  Invervale Founder and President Kathleen Blanchard encourages our young people to take an active interest in Cod recovery. The DVD  shares the following advice:  "take young people out on the water, share their enthusiasm for what they discover and  encourage their sense of wonder about the ocean." 

Over in Norway, they have a strategy of providing a youth quota to address intergenerational succession in the fisheries.  It's an idea worth looking into for our province and would need the enlightened support of all sectors.

 

The collapse and downsizing over the years in the fishery has had a dysfunctional effect on our intergenerational continuity in the fisheries. Transfer of skills and knowledge through the generations is how we sustain industries and culture, and the fisheries more so than most.

 

Of late, the news have warned us of NDD (Nature Deficit Disorder) and its effects on our young people.  Here in Newfoundland and Labrador we need to guard against  FDD (Fisheries Deficit Disorder) in our youth. Getting them on the water during the food fisheries is a wonderful place to start, but there's a boatload of other initiatives to consider and implement.

 

In fisheries lore, it is well-known that the older female Cod is vital to recruitment efforts, but when it comes to industry, it is our youth that is important to its sustainability.

 

This recent twitter post by a local journalist is an encouraging sign our youth may still be interested in one of Newfoundland's oldest industries:

 

Son, who's 4: "Dad, do I have to get married & become a husband? "

Me: "That'll be up to you."

Son: "I think I'd rather be a fisherman.

 

Amen to that!
 

-30-