Central and Arctic

Some things are hard to explain even by the most verbose of politically astute minds.  The ongoing gutting/changing of budgets and services at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard are beginning to defy logic. A recent article in Postmedia News by Mike De Souza outlined the depth and breadth of the situation and in doing so sent a shock-wave through the fishing and marine communities.  The story said that there will be $100 million in cuts and upwards of 500 jobs lost at DFO in many high profile areas in the very near future.

From the dozens of media articles that followed my column on the Cohen Commission Report this fall, you will likely know that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has not responded to the report issued Oct. 31, 2012. What you may not know is that the entire Cohen site has been taken down as though this $26.4-million inquiry had never occurred. Some of us who follow salmon issues at the policy level have saved important documents so the commission can’t just disappear and wild salmon issues in B.C. along with it.

At least one aspect of climate change makes even fish fretful. Ocean acidification — one of the consequences of an increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — makes rockfish anxious, according to a newly published paper by a neuroscientist at Edmonton's MacEwan University. "It's actually very similar to a human being anxious at a very basic fundamental level," said Trevor Hamilton. "(The fish are) afraid of any sort of stimuli that could be harmful."