WWF at IMCC – Making marine science matter

 
At this mammoth interdisciplinary forum, biologists talked to ENGOs, DNA specialists conferred with journalists, and policy makers exchanged notes with climate change scientists. And WWF-Canada played a starring role (OK, so I may be slightly biased!).
Speaking to a sampling of the 1300 conference delegates from around the world, WWF Senior Science Officer, Hussein Alidina, illustrated how bottom-trawling, mining, shipping, land-based pollution and a host of other activities pile cumulative impacts on the Pacific marine environment. A study on mapping impacts from 38 of these human activities, which he co-authored, was published in the influential journal Marine Policy in 2010. Hussein was also the guiding force behind WWF consultant Candace Picco’s presentation assessing habitat impacts from different fishing activities in the Pacific.
Climate change’s looming impacts on the ocean was another big theme, from coral bleaching to ocean acidification to changes in fish abundance.  The aptly named Marianne Fish, a WWF Latin America and Caribbean specialist on climate adaptation and one of our Vancouver office-mates, gave a talk titled “Moving beyond the polar bear: addressing climate change using flagship species”.
Our own Ernie Cooper, from TRAFFIC Canada, spoke about the trade in sharks as part of a symposium organized by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group. The trade in both shark fins and shark meat is on the rise, causing problems for the quarter of the world’s 1,100 known shark species which are in danger of extinction, according to IUCN’s Red List of Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable plants and animals.
From WWF Halifax, Tonya Wimmer spoke about working with lobster fishermen to cut down the amount of rope in the water column to reduce the threat of entanglement of the endangered right whale.
And over at our very busy WWF-Canada booth, Communications Specialist Jo Anne Walton distributed WWF reports and networked like crazy. A hot item was the newly released text ‘Marine Conservation Ecology’ (Earthscan, 2011 by John Roff and Mark Zacharias). The proceeds from this impressive work go to WWF and the authors acknowledge numerous WWFers and WWF-Canada’s efforts to advance marine conservation.

(c) Jo Anne Walton/WWF-Canada
Proof of WWF’s palpable influence on marine conservation in Canada came up repeatedly. A DFO rep noted how a WWF ad helped seal the deal on protection for The Gully, a marine protected area in Nova Scotia. Every presentation about trade in marine species highlighted the key role played by TRAFFIC, a group which sprung out of a WWF-IUCN  partnership.  Talk after talk mentioned WWF, and how our work was key to initiatives ranging from the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area marine planning effort currently unveiling on the north and central BC coast to whale and shark conservation to sustainable seafood in Canada.
So, a resounding round of applause for all at WWF who make marine science matter!