All Posts Tagged With: "Marine Biology"
Ocean life largely unknown
Estimated one million species deep beneath the surface
Lopha cristagalli, an oyster, covered by Monanchora sponge (Gustav Paulay/CP)
The vast world that exists beneath the surface of the ocean remains largely unknown to humankind, say experts working on an international database of marine species.
Of an estimated one million species that make their home in the depths of the sea, as many as two-thirds of them are still a mystery, says a study published this week.
Canada has more coastline than any other nation on Earth — a staggering 200,000 kilometres plus — and the nation’s territorial waters cover more than seven million square kilometres over three different oceans.
The country is a world leader in marine research but even here, the sea still holds many surprises, says Gerhard Pohle, acting executive director of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B.
Senate wants to kill 70,000 seals
Wrong to call this an experiment: Dalhousie biologist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region/Flickr
Canada should pay hunters to kill 70,000 seals off the East Coast to help the recovery of cod stocks even though there’s little scientific evidence to support a large cull, a Senate committee recommended Tuesday.
The committee spent almost a year studying a federal proposal to slaughter up to 70 per cent of the grey seal population in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, a plan critics say has been driven by politics, not science.
“While acknowledging the ecological risks raised by some witnesses, the committee supports the logic of the proposed experimental reduction of grey seals in this area,” the committee said in its report.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Fabian Manning of Newfoundland, admitted the call for a cull was not based on scientific research.
“There’s no really solid research anywhere that shows us exactly — there’s questions on both sides,” he told a news conference on Parliament Hill.
