Ottawa can't keep up with aquatic stowaways: Audit

[Widow]

Ottawa can't keep up with aquatic stowaways: Audit
Mar 06, 2008 02:53 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA–Hordes of foreign species are flourishing in Canada's waterways because the federal government hasn't done enough to close the country's shipping routes to the unwanted guests, says a report by Canada's environment watchdog.

The number of foreign species that have invaded the Great Lakes by stowing away on commercial ships has climbed over the last six years, and the government now risks not being able to keep track of them all, says the audit released today.

There are now 185 foreign species in the Great Lakes alone, up from 160 identified in the environment commissioner's 2002 audit.

Fisheries and Oceans – one of two federal gatekeepers for the country's waterways and shipping routes, along with Transport Canada – has no concrete plan to swoop in when foreign species are detected.

"The rate at which new alien species are becoming established is exceeding the rate at which the department is assessing risks," the audit says.

"Given the current pace of work, Fisheries and Oceans risks falling further behind in assessing the biological risks posed by aquatic invasive species."

Unwanted species wreak economic havoc costing billions of dollars. A 2006 study found that six species alone cost the economy more than $343 million each year.

Zebra mussels – which clog drainage pipes – are perhaps the best-known foreign invaders.

The audit also found that Transport Canada isn't making sure all ships comply with mandatory ballast-water regulations. Not all ships entering Canadian waters fill out mandatory ballast-water reporting forms.

Between January and April of 2007, 960 of 1,029 ships submitted the forms in the Atlantic region.

But some of the ships that do submit forms omit important information, such as its number of ballast tanks and where it has discharged, or intends to discharge, ballast water.

"Missing entries in the Canadian ballast water database make it difficult to determine whether the original form was incomplete, entered incorrectly, or not applicable (in the case where ships do not intend to discharge)," the audit says.

The audit also says there different inspection targets across the country. Transport Canada says all ships entering the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway are inspected, but only a quarter of the vessels on the east and west coasts are supposed to be searched.

However, Transport Canada figures show that only seven per cent of ships were actually inspected on the west coast between January and September of 2007.

The department says federal funding received last fall should allow it to meet its 25 per cent benchmark.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/310134

[North Shore]

So whose fault is it? The Government's? Ours?

In the late '80's to mid-'90's lots of pressure was brought to bear on the Governments at the time to kill the deficit/debt. So they did. Now, ten years later, the ramifications of those fiscal decisions are becoming clear: poor, out-of-date military equipment; a major drug resurgence in CYVR because of the loss of the Port Police; lack of Doctors across the country because of the closing of seats in medical schools; I would suspect that this current problem has at its root a loss of funding somewhere in the past. And yet, the current Government, while running a large surplus, gives it away in tax cuts rather than investing in either more debt reduction, or infrastructure....

[Uncle Leo]

I hates having aquatic stowaways. No one likes having to plunge the toidy all morning.