The state of our oceans

Keynote address by

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

to the

G7 Ministerial Meeting:
Working together on climate change, oceans and clean energy

Halifax, Nova Scotia
September 20, 2018

Good morning, fellow ministers and delegates, bonjour.

As Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and on behalf of all Canadians, I welcome you to Canada, to Nova Scotia and to this beautiful city of Halifax.

I would like to acknowledge that we are holding this G7 ministerial meeting in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq people.

I make this acknowledgement out of respect and awareness that this coast and these waters were for many thousands of years—and they continue to be—the home of the Mi’kmaq people.

This recognition also reminds us that our important work today goes back oceans of time to the decisions and actions of those who came before us. This same work that we will do today must produce progress that will be felt and welcomed by those who come after us.

We meet here today because we share the urgency of sustaining our oceans’ health, and we are taking measures to address it.

The evidence is clear.

Marine ecosystems are at risk. 

1) Our continued use of fossil fuels is warming our oceans, raising our sea levels and acidifying our waters.

Warmer oceans mean fiercer hurricanes with stronger storm surges and higher floodwaters, causing dramatic damage in our coastal communities. 

2) Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is emptying our oceans of wildlife. Close to 90 percent of fish stocks are overfished.

The time has come to stop and to begin to reverse this damage. That time is now. And the place is here.

Canada is pleased to chair the G7 this year. We used the convening power of the G7, working internationally with governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, to respond to the priorities set by Prime Minister Trudeau and the other leaders of the G7.

Priorities established by the G7 leaders include improving governance and protecting our oceans; building more resilient coasts and coastal communities; ending illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; cleaning up our oceans and tackling ocean plastics; making more scientific data available worldwide and taking prompt decisions based on the latest findings. 

All G7 countries - and all the nations of the world - have an interest in making substantial progress in these areas. For the simple and good reason that we all depend on our oceans.

Sustainable oceans mean sustainable economies.

They supply our air. Half of the oxygen the people of the world breathe comes from oceans.

They give us our food. Oceans provide 15 percent of the world’s protein requirements – or protein for one day a week for every human on the planet. 

They are a growing source of recreation and tourism. International oceans and coastal recreation and tourism have increased more than 33 percent in the past decade.

And they are a source of jobs and prosperity. Five per cent of the jobs in the world depend on the oceans. Here in Canada, the marine sector represents more than 300,000 jobs and contributes over $30 billion to the Canadian economy.

Canadians are well aware of the importance of our oceans. We are nothing if not an ocean nation.

Canada has the longest coastline in the world, stretching almost 244,000 kilometres. That is 55 times the distance between Halifax and Vancouver. 

Eight of our 10 provinces and all three of our territories border the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific or Arctic oceans.

And seven million Canadians—one Canadian out of five—live in communities along our ocean coasts.

The health of our oceans is key to feeding our population, to sustaining our trading economy, and to nurturing tourism and recreation in our country.

As an ocean nation, Canada has already taken many actions to protect this vital national resource.

The $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan is the centerpiece of our efforts. It is already helping to better protect the environment, improve marine safety and engage Indigenous communities in the co-management of our oceans. One of the pillars of this Plan is a $75 million Coastal Restoration Fund that builds on partnerships to preserve, protect and restore Canada’s coastal areas. 

When we were elected three years ago, we promised to protect five percent of Canada's oceans by 2017 and 10 percent by 2020.

We exceeded our target for 2017 and have now recognized almost eight percent of marine and coastal areas as protected. And that number will increase to a full ten percent for 2020.

Canada is committed to fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. That is why we signed the Port State Measures Agreement to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. And we are working to ratify the agreement by next year.

To back up our signing, we introduced a strict fisheries management strategy for vessels within and beyond our borders. We then committed to fund international partnerships to share intelligence and surveillance technology to monitor fishing levels in international waters.

We also support the work of NGOs and the private sector to develop technological innovations that combat illegal activities, as well as those that enhance the world’s food security and improve the health of our ocean ecosystems.

All of these steps are essential to protect, conserve and rebuild high-seas fish stocks, including those that move in and out of the 200-mile limit of coastal states.

When it comes to man-made pollution in the world’s oceans, Canada is also taking action. As a federal government, we are moving towards making our operations low-carbon, resilient and green. As a country, we are moving toward zero plastic waste by keeping plastic out of oceans and landfills.

Here in Canada, just like you, we recognize our responsibility to act internationally.

Canada is back, and we are all in.

Under the Commonwealth Blue Charter, Canada will champion ocean science to support the sustainable use of coastal and ocean resources in order to protect and preserve our world’s oceans.

We are also co-hosts along with Kenya of the first international conference on a sustainable blue economy, to be held in Nairobi in November. This conference is a vital step to help the world transition to a blue economy that is prosperous, inclusive and sustainable.

A blue economy does two things. First, it harnesses the potential of our oceans, seas, lakes and rivers to improve the lives of all, particularly women, young people, Indigenous peoples and those in developing states. 

Second, a blue economy takes advantage of the latest innovations, scientific findings and best practices to steadily build prosperity while conserving our waters for future generations.

In addition to collaborating with Kenya on all aspects of this conference, Canada is contributing two million dollars to make it possible for small-island developing states and least-developed countries to take part.

International efforts such as the Nairobi conference are essential. All of us around the world—from us as G7 nations to grassroots organizations and private industry—must collaborate continuously.

We must share knowledge, make collaborative decisions based on that knowledge, and take coordinated actions wherever possible and necessary.

I do not mean to say that we have not made good progress as an international community. Because we have.

We have agreed to reduce marine litter through the G7 Action Plan to Combat Marine Litter and we are working collaboratively to ensure safer, cleaner oceans by addressing the growing global problem of abandoned fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, which have major impacts on marine life.

I intend to work with my colleague, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, to address the problem of ghost fishing gear - the abandoned fishing gear that destroys ocean marine life. That is almost half of the marine litter in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Canada wants to also work cooperatively with our G7 partners, other governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector on ghost fishing. 

Many of us in the G7 also pledged to combat ocean pollution through the Ocean Plastics Charter.

We are using the UN’s Clean Seas Campaign to work together to phase out the production and use of single-use plastic and microbeads.

And we must not forget that we established precise international goals through the United Nations Development Program that touch on all the major priorities that we must address. Reducing marine pollution. Protecting marine ecosystems. Minimizing the effects of ocean acidification. Conserving coastal and marine areas. And ending illegal and destructive fishing practices.

We are not moving fast enough as a group of nations and as an international community.

So let us commit to acting boldly here and now:

To tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

To expand and deepen our scientific knowledge of the oceans.

To build more resilient coasts and coastal communities.

And to beat plastic pollution. 

Above all, to preserve an ecosystem vital to our peace, prosperity and very survival on this planet.

Fellow ministers and delegates, we cannot make this meeting just another get-together. We cannot afford to carry on business as usual. Time is running out on our oceans.

We know that we must act and the people who elected us to represent them know it too. They expect us to act in a meaningful and immediate way to protect the state of our oceans.

The time for action is now.  So, let’s get to work.