Transport Canada undermining government’s credibility on illegal oil dumping crackdown in Atlantic Canada

At the same time as the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development is considering Bill C-15, an important Bill which will increase fines and make it easier to prosecute ships that illegally dump their oily bilge in Canada’s waters, recent news reports suggest that Transport Canada is undermining the intent of the Bill by cutting back on the aerial surveillance needed to make the Bill effective.

In a brief to the standing committee, WWF-Canada indicates its support for Bill C-15, An Act to amend the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, as it fills an important legal gap. However, the organization also warns legislators that the rate of illegal bilge dumping in Canada will continue to be among the highest in the world unless shipping companies know there is a reasonable chance of getting caught.

“No matter what kind of legislation the government passes, it will only be as good as its ability to catch offenders,” says Dr. Robert Rangeley, WWF-Canada’s Halifax-based Marine Conservation director. “Canada’s surveillance, enforcement and penalties have traditionally been inadequate and weak when compared to other countries like the United States. If we cut back further on surveillance, the message to shipping companies is that the chances of getting caught when breaking the law are virtually zero.”

Bilge oil dumping is a chronic and preventable problem that is threatening Canada’s Atlantic marine environment and one of the planet’s most important wintering grounds for seabirds. Four times as much oil is illegally dumped into the sea from ships each year than from all the world’s oil spills combined. A drop of oil the size of a quarter is enough to kill a seabird.

WWF-Canada has been campaigning against illegal bilge dumping since 2002, as part of a broader conservation vision for the Northwest Atlantic Ecoregion that includes the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and Labrador. In September 2002, WWF-Canada published, Seabirds and Atlantic Canada’s Ship-Source Oil Pollution to document the environmental costs of ship-source oil pollution and offer recommendations. The research in that report – including quantifying the death rate of seabirds at 300,000 per year – has become widely regarded as the definitive work on the issue.