Newfoundland Researcher Says Conservation Efforts Often Misdirected

While well-intended, marine conservation efforts may be misguided in many cases. That’s the word from Rodolphe Devillers, a Memorial University researcher. He just published a study in Aquatic Conservation journal finding marine conservation efforts often failed because they didn’t address areas under actual threat.

Conservation areas conveniently were placed outside commercial fishing and industrial areas even though conservation was needed most inside those places. Government did this to avoid damaging economic development without regard to actual conservation, Devillers found after analyzing more than 5,000 marine conservation hotspots in a worldwide database. Of those, only 10 contained contained more than 50 percent of protected waters and nine of those weren’t under direct risk.

Devilliers said nations needed to get serious about marine conservation That included being ready to trade off some economic gain for serious environmental protection. Canadian officials needed to pay attention to scientists’ choices for protection area, he said.

Scientists from the Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans weren’t commenting on the report. However, a department spokesman said the Ontario government was looking out for the nation’s oceans. He said Fisheries and Oceans Canada officials had added marine protection areas and found others to be considered for future conversation measures. Newly considered areas had an excellent chance at protection, he said.

Marine conservation goals set by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity call for 10 percent of the world’s coastal and marine areas to be protected by 2020. Canada has one percent of its waters protected.

The study appears in the current issue of  the journal Aquatic Conservation