Good and bad, the oceans are in the news these days.  Locally in B.C. our northern ocean is finally being addressed by a planning process that will engage three levels of government, local residents and the full spectrum of stakeholders. 

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has declared the Glass Sponge Reefs of Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound an “Area of Interest” and formally initiated the process that will lead to their being declared a Marine Protected Area .

And the Haida Nation and the Federal Government have formally established the Gwaii Hanas National Marine Conservation Area, a 3,400 hectare ocean area in the southern archipelago of Haida Gwaii where integrated management of ocean and adjacent forest will be developed.

There is much to be thankful for in these accomplishments.  But there are significant areas of concern. The International Whaling Commission is contemplating opening a commercial hunt on a variety of species, an astoundingly retrograde notion that must be stopped.

Two Greenpeace activists are facing prosecution in Japan for exposing unsavoury details of whale meat scams and illegal profiteering.  They deserve praise for this courageous action.

Meanwhile B.C.’s ace environmental lawyers from Ecojustice, acting for an alliance of local environmental organizations, have provoked a Federal Court hearing on the adequacy of the designation of critical habitat for endangered and threatened Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in our local ocean.  This is a precedent setting attempt to have attributes other than place be included as critical habitat (food, noise, cleanliness etc.)  Visit the courtroom next week.

More than any other thing though the great oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico rivets our attention on the ocean.  Not just an oil spill, but a massive transfusion of foreign toxic substances into the veins of the ocean, we will live with the effects for decades.  And it could easily happen again so poor are the safeguards in this high risk hunt for our energy of choice.  There is much to ponder, not least our lifestyles which ride the tidal wave of oil and its products.  The great ocean brought life to this planet and sustains it.  We must wake up about its real needs.