Slowly and surely, the cod that once flourished on the Atlantic shores of Newfoundland are returning. 

For the past 20 years, the waters have been noticeably free of this species. Atlantic cod were driven from the region by overfishing and cooling water temperatures, which they are not suited for.

As a result, fisheries were shuttered and the industry took a hard tumble on the east coast.

As the cod begins to return, we must learn from those mistakes and begin to implement responsible regulations so as not to have a repeat. There are a number of interests intersecting here, but the preservation of marine wildlife to sustain a prosperous fishing industry well into the future remains the most important.

As the new government fulfills its promises to review environmental protections in Canada, we demand that they begin to look proactively at managing fishing to prevent the Atlantic cod fisheries situation from happening again.

As the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference wrapped up this month, the newly elected Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna endorsed the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Action to combat climate change is of the utmost importance to the many people who rely on British Columbia’s salmon runs for food and business. The coasts of BC are seeing record warm ocean temperatures, this summer peaking at three degrees higher than normal.

The salmon that swim throughout the province cannot handle the rising temperatures, and are increasingly migrating north in search of cooler waters. This puts the salmon at greater risk of moving towards more acidic water, according to a report published by VanCity.

It may surprise you to learn that the protection of fish habitats in pipeline corridors now only need permits from the National Energy Board (NEB), a federal regulatory tribunal with close ties to some of the largest multinational energy companies in the world.

Yet, as the result of a Conservative deal that created a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the NEB and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), this is the current state of environmental protections along pipeline corridors in Canada. The DFO is now consulted only if the NEB’s assessment deems it necessary to protect a species at risk or if it is deemd to potentially cause a serious harm to fish.

In essence, this decision has given large oil companies the power to decide whether an assessment is necessary, which would hold up construction and the ability for those same companies to make money, in pipeline regions. This is, at least, an inappropriate conflict of interest.