Down with the bottom feeders IX

If a rogue combine harvester were raking the ecosystems of the Rocky Mountains, killing all plants and animals in its path, do you think the government of Canada could call for a stop to this distructive practice?

You bet they would.

But when underwater mountains are raked by a marine harvesting activity that kills plants and animals in its path, the government of Canada refuses to call for a stop to this destructive practice.

This week, yet another study is highlighting the irreparable damage that bottom trawling is doing to marine life and habitats in international waters.

"There is an urgency, first of all, to deal with regulating those fisheries and secondly to get out there and look at those habitats before they are gone," said Dr Alex Rogers, of the Zoological Society of London and a co-author of the report. "Fish hundreds of years old are being decimated as a result of this trawling."

Last week, marine scientists and environmentalists travelled to Ottawa to plead with the Fisheries Minister to change his stance. But Loyola Hearn stood firm on his decision against a moratorium on deep seas bottom trawling.

He justifies his decision by saying it's too hard to regulate activities in international waters.

Yes, Minister Hearn, it is hard. And so is fighting AIDS in Africa and terrorists overseas. It is very hard, but that does not give you licence to ignore the research, expertise and advice of marine scientists - in Canada and around the world - who are warning of the great destruction bottom-trawling is wreaking on marine life and habitats?

Fish live and survive in these marine habitats, Minister Hearn, fish that you eat. If those habitats are destroyed, the fish will die and no one will eat them. This is what the scientists are telling you.

You are pitting Canada against the US, Britain, Norway, France, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific nations and Brazil who have all said they will support of the United Nations moratorium in December.

Minister Hearn, your government is swimming against an international tide favouring preservation of the environment. And your government is failing to recognize that Canadians - despite your government's positions on the environment - still regard themselves as an environmentally responsible people.

Have courage, Minister Hearn. Vote in favour of the moratorium on bottom trawling. You'll never regret it.