Thank you, and good morning, honourable members of the committee. I appreciate being invited to present to you today.
I'm the marine conservation program director for the David Suzuki Foundation. I have a BSc in science and a master of business administration degree. I've worked for about 20 years for various environmental non-government organizations on various environmental policy issues. Over the last three years I've focused specifically on marine conservation and fisheries policy issues.
Today I'd like to present my views on Canada's efforts and performance in the field of ocean and coastal conservation and management, highlight some of the values in our oceans that I believe are at risk because of the current federal budget allocations, and suggest where I believe Canada should be investing more federal money to meet some of our international commitments.
With over 40% of our national jurisdiction in marine environments, and with the significant contribution that ocean-related activities make to our economy, I believe that Canada is currently significantly under-investing in the health and future of the well-being of our oceans and coastal environments.
Canada has made many international commitments to protect and manage our oceans in a manner that maintains the function of marine ecosystems. In 1992 we signed the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Article 8 of that convention clearly states the mandate for the parties to the convention: to establish a system of marine protected areas; to regulate and manage biological resources for the conservation of diversity, both inside and outside of protected areas; and to promote the protection of ecosystems and natural habitats to maintain viable populations of species.
Canada also has commitments under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and our own Oceans Act, in which, under subsection 35(2) of the act, it directs the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans “to lead and coordinate the development and implementation of a national system of marine protected areas on behalf of the Government of Canada”.
In 2002, in an attempt to realize the Oceans Act mandate, Canada developed an ocean strategy. This strategy laid out a plan on how to realize some of these international commitments and our domestic mandate. Sadly, Canada is failing to meet its commitments. Other nations, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, which also made commitments to ocean strategies at about the same time Canada did in 1997, have moved far ahead of us in planning, protecting, and managing the biological resources within their economic zones.
How badly are we doing? As of 2006, Canada had protected 0.12% of our exclusive economic zone. It is not my view that Canada lacks the ability to reach our objectives; rather, there's a lack of political will and a serious lack of investment that's required to do the job professionally and in a manner that would maintain Canada's reputation as a world leader in stewardship, conservation, and sustainable practices. This critical view is not only mine. It was presented in 2005, when the Canadian Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development issued a very detailed report highlighting that Canada had failed to meet the ocean strategy objectives and its mandate under the Oceans Act.
The commissioner identified the lack of inter-agency coordination and collaboration and a lack of adequate funding as the primary hurdles for progress on this file. Now, almost two years later, we have not only failed to make progress, but we are sliding backwards. We have no integrated management plans in place in our oceans. We have no new marine protected areas. We have declining budgets for science and research in oceans. And we have less funding in DFO's ocean management budget than we had two years ago.
How many years will Canadians have to hear that we have failed to meet our international commitments, failed to invest in the conservation and management of our oceans, and failed to establish a governance structure that maintains the benefits Canadians realize from our oceans?
The oceans are important to Canadians. Over 20% of our population lives in coastal cities and communities. And 98,000 people work in fisheries and processing jobs. Canada has over 11,000 ocean-oriented businesses with fisheries landings worth over $2 billion to the Canadian economy and seafood exports of over $5.4 billion. Recreational fishing in southern British Columbia alone is worth $500 million. And DFO estimated in 2006 that the overall economic activity was worth $23 billion.
Not all this economic activity is sustainable. It's increasing. The non-traditional things like aquaculture, oil and gas, and tourism are escalating on an ever-increasing scale. The threats we face from climate change are exacerbating the problem.
I'm very concerned that there is a $105 million decline in the budget at DFO in the next year, and there's only $18 million allocated over the next two years for conservation.
We believe that a much greater investment must be made, and we're asking for more than $100 million per year to be allocated to engage the integrated management planning process and related work necessary to actually complete the designation of marine protected areas and to move to an ecosystem-based approach to management of our oceans.
Thank you very much for hearing my comments today.