Canada's Polar Win
BY DANA TRICARICO
Working in an environmental field can sometimes mean hard work and perseverance, despite global setbacks, to protect our natural resources. With climate change already impacting the arctic, it may seem like all good news for this particular region is long gone. However, Canada has given conservationists a recent glimmer of hope as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has highlighted climate change as a clear concern for all departments of his government. In mid-December, mandate letters were sent to his cabinet, and 16 of these 37 letters gave their recipients explicit instructions to focus on climate change.
Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, was tasked with working directly with various stakeholder groups to protect the world’s longest coastline and the marine species that live along it. Jordan has also been given a more detailed directive – work with the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to conserve 25% of Canada’s oceans by 2025 and 30% by 2030, and urge other countries to do the same. Plans to work towards this level of protection need a high level of collaboration among the various provinces, territories, Indigenous groups and scientists to create a feasible compromise that leaves a positive environmental legacy. This is no easy feat, but many organizations have already done some deep dives into the threats to marine life and the hurdles of ocean planning in the arctic waters of Canada.
The Wildlife Conservation Society is one such organization, with a mission to protect wildlife in wild places throughout 16 key priority regions throughout the World. Arctic Beringia is one such priority area which spans regions of Russia, northern Alaska and northern Canada. Researchers for this organization study Arctic marine mammals, terrestrial and aquatic fish and migratory birds. Perhaps one of the greatest examples of the need to marry human use and marine protection comes from the Arctic Beringia teams work with noise in the arctic marine environment.
It has become clear in marine ecosystems throughout the world, that anthropogenic noise impacts marine life, whether it be through oil exploration, mining, or even pile driving associated with offshore wind development. However, the most common noise of all comes from traveling ships which tend to heavily impact communication and prey detection among mammals like whales and seals. To further show its commitment to the environment and to address concerns with underwater, human-caused noise, the 2018 Canadian federal budget made funding commitments to three “at-risk” whale populations including right whales, belugas and Orcas in heavily used waters throughout Canada.
Scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society are working in Arctic Beringia to protect the coastline of Canada, and other threatened portions of polar waters.
Despite the fact that Arctic waters are more remote, and therefore, have less shipping noise exposure, Martin von Mirbach, Director of Conservation Strategy for WCS Canada, and his team, paid close attention to the importance of combating underwater noise in arctic regions. One increasing concern is the obvious link between melting sea ice and increasing ship traffic. As sea ice decreases, more ships will travel through these areas and more species will feel the differences of their once-quiet homes. Cue the need for high attention from the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and we can see how all of this comes full circle.
There are many threats associated with longer “ice-free” periods in arctic waters other than the low-frequency sounds associated with high commercial shipping. Oil spills, ship strikes to migrating mammals and other industrial developments are on the rise. The Wildlife Conservation Society and its researchers aim to decrease auditory impacts immediately, and to use the data from this process to build mid- and long-term solutions to these other shipping dangers in Canada and the rest of Arctic Beringia. By assessing shipping routes, and deploying passive acoustic monitoring techniques to determine timing of ships and the auditory impact on marine mammals, there is hope to decrease noise impacts, ship strikes and other problems on polar marine animals.