Canada’s Dangerous Waters
Canada’s shipping laws are promoting aquatic clearcutting. By incentivizing ocean dumping, these laws are helping to destroy the kelp forests and accelerate the decline of critically endangered species.
Deadly consequences for the ocean and global biodiversity are happening in Canada. Right now, Canada’s famously lax ocean dumping laws encourage ships to save and dump their waste once the ships cross the Canadian maritime border.
How are ships getting away with this? Canada has no laws in place to stop them. Any ship can dump sewage directly into the ocean, contributing to the destruction of kilometers of critical habitat and food sources for endangered and threatened species.
The global population of critically endangered southern resident killer whales is down to 74. Endangered sea otters are struggling to survive. At one time kelp forests stretched for kilometers, now habitat is fractured and subject to deadly heat waves and red tides. Were this destruction to be visible above the surface, global citizens could see the results: Canada’s shipping laws are promoting aquatic clear-cutting.
From critically endangered orcas to kilometers of kelp forests, nothing can escape the destruction from ship pollution–unless Canada acts now.