To start things off, from MSNBC:
Budget cut overkill? Canada axes entire marine pollution program
By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com
Canada has been sending letters to government scientists notifying them that their jobs will be eliminated or affected by the closure of the country's marine pollution program -- but at least one isn't going without making some noise.
"It's perplexing that we face the loss of this program, given the 25,000 chemicals on the market and the ever-increasing threats posed by shipping and oil and gas exploration and development in temperate and Arctic waters," Peter Ross told msnbc.com. Ross is perhaps Canada's best known marine scientist for his work on identifying killer whales as the most contaminated marine mammals on the planet.
"As can be expected when one is told their position is being terminated, one is shocked and saddened," he added. "However, when told that the entire pollution research and monitoring program for Canada's oceans is being eliminated, I was speechless."
The program, which employs 75 staff, is set to be shut down by April 1, 2013, the Victoria Times Colonist reported.
"I cannot think of another industrialized nation that has completely excised marine pollution from its radar," Ross said.
The program is under the Department of Fisheries, which is shedding a total of 400 jobs. More than 600 others will be "affected." Of the some 1,000 jobs impacted, three quarters are with the Canadian Coast Guard.
A Department of Fisheries spokesperson told the Colonist that the cuts would produce $79 million in savings and that an advisory group from academia and the private sector would instead provide advice.
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I think the unspoken rationale for this is the anticipation of the Arctic opening up to tanker traffic.
Silent Summer
By Peter Ross
Since being hired 13 years ago as a Research Scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), I have been fortunate to conduct research on such magnificent creatures as killer whales, beluga whales, harbour seals and sea otters. I have visited some of the wildest parts of coastal British Columbia, Arctic Canada and further afield. I have been humbled by the power of Mother Nature as we deployed teams to explore and better understand the lives of creatures beneath the surface of the ocean. I have marveled at the evolutionary adaptations of marine mammals to an existence at the interface of land, sea and atmosphere. And as a scientist, I have come to learn that I possess but rudimentary powers of observation when it comes to the mystery and beauty of a vast ocean. For all of this, I remain eternally grateful.
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It is with deep regret that I relay news of my termination of employment at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the loss of my dream job. It is with even greater sadness that I learn of the demise of DFO’s entire contaminants research program – regionally and nationally. It is with apprehension that I ponder a Canada without any research or monitoring capacity for pollution in our three oceans, or any ability to manage its impacts on commercial fish stocks, traditional foods for over 300,000 aboriginal people and marine wildlife.
Canada's silence on these issues will be deafening this summer and beyond.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... scientists