Our oceans and you

It’s June – the time of year to pull out camping gear and dust off marine charts to plot my annual summer sea kayak excursion with friends into West Coast waters.  One of the things I most appreciate on these trips is how central the ocean is to our daily survival. We measure time by its tides, determine our route by its winds and currents, and plot our departures around its moods. Returning home is always a letdown because, even though I live in a coastal city, once back in the traffic and concrete of urban living I soon lose this close connection to the rhythms of the sea.
 

Kayaking along the shoreline, Moresby, British Columbia, Canada. © Kevin McNamee / WWF-Canada

World Oceans Day on June 8 is a great opportunity for all of us to reconnect with Canada’s oceans, learn about the challenges they face and what we can do to help. Whether you live on Canada’s prairies, in the Gatineau hills, along the Great Lakes or on one of Canada’s three ocean coasts, healthy oceans play a central role in all of our lives.  They help regulate our climate and provide us with food to eat, water to drink and oxygen to breathe. Chemical compounds derived from marine life are an important source of medicine, helping treat diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and arthritis.  Ocean industries contribute $26-billion annually to Canada’s economy and 90 per cent of world trade takes place by sea. We live in a country with the longest ocean coastline in the world.

Pacific Ocean waves crashing on coast of Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. © Kevin McNamee / WWF-Canada

 
In Vancouver, WWF will celebrate World Oceans Day with our friends at the Vancouver Aquarium.  Through games, talks and interactive presentations, we’ll be exploring five major challenges our oceans face, and the ways you can help.  From addressing the widespread problem of marine debris that endangers our oceans to countering threats of overfishing, we’ll offer ways for you to participate as an ocean-friendly consumer and responsible steward. We’ll explore how acidification caused by the ocean’s absorption of CO2 from our cars and factories is changing the chemistry of our oceans and causing problems for marine life.
WWF will demonstrate how increasing man-made noise – from shipping, construction and other human activities – is affecting underwater ocean habitat where whales, dolphins and other marine animals depend on sound to navigate and find food and mates.  We’ll explore the impact of human activity on important habitat such as eelgrass that provides a place for marine plants and animals to eat, hide, live and grow. Join us Friday at the Vancouver Aquarium or participate in one of the many World Oceans Day events across the country. Find one near you and join the conversation on Twitter at #worldoceansday.