Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / Ontario Weakens Species Protections | Hawaii's Climate Fee | Deep Sea Mining Clash | Frilled Shark Expansion
Transcript
- 0:03What's up everybody? Welcome back to the
- 0:05how to protect the
- 0:05ocean podcast. Today, we're
- 0:06going to be talking about four different
- 0:08types of stories. You're
- 0:09going to talk about a policy
- 0:10change in my home province of Ontario. I
- 0:12know it's not surrounded
- 0:13by oceans, but we've got
- 0:14a little bit of that connection to the
- 0:17oceans. We're going to be
- 0:17talking about a new policy
- 0:19for tourists in Hawaii, a place that I
- 0:21just went to and I
- 0:22love. We're also going to be
- 0:25talking about an interesting shark that's
- 0:27popped up in Chile,
- 0:28expanding its range. And then finally
- 0:31to cap it off, we're going to be talking
- 0:32about how the international seabed
- 0:34authority has clapped
- 0:35back to the US in terms of talking about
- 0:38or even trying to do deep
- 0:39sea mining. All that on today's
- 0:42episode of the how to protect the ocean
- 0:43podcast. Let's start the show. Trying
- 0:50something new today.
- 0:51Welcome back to another exciting episode
- 0:53of the how to protect the
- 0:54ocean podcast. I'm your host,
- 0:55Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast
- 0:57where you can find out how
- 0:58to pull the I mess it up. It's
- 1:01always messing me up. I'm just going to
- 1:02continue going. I'm going to start all
- 1:04over. Hey everybody,
- 1:06welcome back to another exciting episode
- 1:07of the how to protect the
- 1:08ocean podcast. I'm your host,
- 1:09Andrew Lewin. This is the podcast where
- 1:11you find out what's
- 1:11happening with the ocean, how you can
- 1:13speak up for the ocean and what you can
- 1:14do to live for a better
- 1:16ocean by taking action on today's
- 1:18episode. We're going to be trying
- 1:19something new. I am getting ready or
- 1:22practicing to go live. Now,
- 1:24this is something that I've been wanting
- 1:25to do for a long time. I
- 1:27even bought the software called
- 1:28Ecamm. It's a great software. It takes a
- 1:30little while to get used to and also
- 1:32doing stuff live. I'm
- 1:33used to recording this. You know, I went
- 1:35from just doing audio to now
- 1:37doing video podcasting and now
- 1:39doing live video that will eventually
- 1:43turn into the audio podcast
- 1:45every once in a while and adding
- 1:47some new stuff to the YouTube channel. So
- 1:49this is going to be all new. I'm just
- 1:51going to go in it and act like it's live.
- 1:54So if I make a mistake, I make a mistake.
- 1:55No starting over, no editing. It's just
- 1:58going to go straight into it. I'm going
- 1:59to try not to make any mistakes, but I
- 2:01can't promise anything. So we're going to
- 2:04get started with the show because this is
- 2:06something that's really special to me.
- 2:07This is something that I want to bring
- 2:08you more information to you. We've got
- 2:11four stories that I'm going to go through
- 2:13and I want to make sure that we're going
- 2:15through them nicely, but I'm going to
- 2:17kind of quickly and quickly. I want to
- 2:18kind of quicken the pace so it's not
- 2:18going to take forever. So let's get to it
- 2:21today. We're going to be talking about
- 2:23four different things changing the
- 2:25endangered species act in the province of
- 2:27Ontario, my home province. I'm a little
- 2:29miffed about this. This is pissing me off
- 2:31quite a bit that we've seen this time and
- 2:33time again. I know the federal government
- 2:35in Canada tried to do this in the past. I
- 2:38know the state of Florida has done this
- 2:40in the past with manatees taking either
- 2:42species off early or not listing them in
- 2:45time and making sure that they're not
- 2:47taking sure and just basically degrading
- 2:48their habitat around them. We're going to
- 2:50talk all about that. We're also going to
- 2:51be talking about a new policy in Hawaii
- 2:54about tourism. There's a climate tax
- 2:56essentially that'll be interesting to see
- 2:58how that's going to go ahead. But we have
- 3:00a video from TikTok from a Chris a career
- 3:03who is talking about it because she's
- 3:06been working on that policy with her
- 3:08partners for about five years and it's
- 3:10finally going in. So congratulations to
- 3:12her. So we'll talk. We'll hear from her.
- 3:13We're also going to be talking about a
- 3:15new article that Melissa Marquez wrote
- 3:17for Forbes magazine talking about the
- 3:18frill shark how it's showing up in Chile
- 3:21and why that's important for its range.
- 3:23We're going to talk about that. And of
- 3:24course, the clap back. I say fights back
- 3:27the International seabed authority fights
- 3:28back on US deep sea mining and saying,
- 3:31hey, you know what? You may not actually
- 3:32be able to do this. So we're going to
- 3:34talk all about that. But first we're
- 3:36going to start it off changing the
- 3:38endangered species act. This is something
- 3:41where I just don't get it. It's just one
- 3:44of those things where it happens every
- 3:45time there's a conservative government.
- 3:47That comes in. We see the fact that it's
- 3:50it's it. They want to take an act that
- 3:53stops or slows down economic growth and
- 3:56by economic growth. I mean development.
- 3:58There's a lot of things that are going on
- 3:59in this article here on the narwhal at
- 4:01narwhal.ca. It looks at how Ontario is
- 4:04killing this endangered species act.
- 4:07Here's what you need to know and it gives
- 4:09you a whole thing. And I'm going to I'm
- 4:10going to link to it in the show notes.
- 4:12But this is something that's really
- 4:14interesting because they kind
- 4:15of snuck it in. It's Bill five.
- 4:17And it's essentially it's going to make
- 4:18it easier to build minds. It's going to
- 4:20make it easier to build infrastructure
- 4:22like a highway for 13. And the reason why
- 4:25they're doing this is because they want
- 4:27to build in green space and actually a
- 4:29green zone that's been designated north
- 4:31of Toronto called the green belt. And
- 4:34that's been an important part of
- 4:35preserving a lot of the ecosystem
- 4:38activity that happens in wetlands around
- 4:40Toronto, just north of Toronto and
- 4:42through Toronto. You gotta remember
- 4:44Toronto is a big city here in Canada.
- 4:47It's made a lot of changes to its river
- 4:48systems. A lot of times it's actually
- 4:50it's actually buried its rivers as it
- 4:53gets closer to the lake causing a lot of
- 4:55problems in terms of ecosystem function.
- 4:57But it also you know they they realize
- 4:59this. They said you know what north of
- 5:01Toronto we really have to start
- 5:02protecting us. We're going to have this
- 5:03green belt. It's a zone that you can't
- 5:05build in. Well, that's what we thought.
- 5:07Now it looks like they're going to try
- 5:09and build it and try and put another
- 5:10highway because if you live in Toronto or
- 5:12you're near Toronto, you see the 401
- 5:15which is the major highway
- 5:16that goes through Toronto.
- 5:17It's always busy. The gardener, which is
- 5:20downtown Toronto. It's always busy.
- 5:22There's this. It's always traffic around
- 5:24all the highways have it. So they said,
- 5:26you know what? We're going to build
- 5:27another one, even though they have one
- 5:28for seven. It's a toll highway that not
- 5:31many people want to pay for. So it's
- 5:33always open. It's very rarely that you
- 5:34get you get traffic and then but now
- 5:37nobody wants to pay for it because it's
- 5:39expensive. So people are like, okay,
- 5:40let's you know, governments like let's
- 5:42make it for 13 north of the city to have
- 5:46a lot of people go through.
- 5:47There will it work. I don't know. There's
- 5:49been a lot of scandal around it and now
- 5:51they're trying to make it easier for them
- 5:53to develop by taking away a lot of the
- 5:56things that will slow them down in terms
- 5:58of regulations. It'll just slow them down
- 6:00to do that. And one of that is the
- 6:02endangered species act. These are species
- 6:04that have seen a like a very fast decline
- 6:08in their population and they, you know,
- 6:12they need specialized things. So they
- 6:15need like to protect their homes.
- 6:17They protect where they sleep to protect
- 6:19where they eat to protect their habitat
- 6:21that they actually use and also have
- 6:23recovery plan. So I actually have a plan
- 6:26for each of these species and each of the
- 6:27populations and each of the areas where
- 6:29they occur to make sure that they start
- 6:31to grow in numbers for that population.
- 6:34And so that's a very important part of
- 6:36the species at risk or the endangered
- 6:37species act. The there's a federal
- 6:40species at risk act and that will also
- 6:42protect it. But it's protect different
- 6:44species at different levels. And of
- 6:45course, province and
- 6:47federal government have different
- 6:49jurisdictions. So there have to have a
- 6:52different act like an endangered species
- 6:54act or species at risk act. So this is a
- 6:56really interesting thing because here are
- 6:58the changes to the acts. They want to
- 7:01repeal. So essentially they're going to
- 7:03repeal the endangered species act and
- 7:05replace it with a species conservation
- 7:07act. Now the shift of focus is from
- 7:09recovery and stewardship to a balance
- 7:11between conservation and economic
- 7:14development. Now that sounds
- 7:17normal. That sounds like actually that's
- 7:18not that bad. You want to balance, you
- 7:20know, the species protection with
- 7:21economic development. The problem is, is
- 7:24that's not how it works. So they want to
- 7:27redefine under the species conservation
- 7:29act what habitat means. So they're
- 7:31actually narrowing it down. So
- 7:33previously, habitat encompassed areas
- 7:36essential for species life processes,
- 7:40which, which, you know, such as like
- 7:42feeding, breeding and migration, just
- 7:44like I mentioned earlier. So the new
- 7:45definition limits habitat
- 7:47specifically to the dwelling places like
- 7:50dens or nests. So this is usually online.
- 7:52It's not aquatic species. We'll talk
- 7:53about quite species in a bit. So it's
- 7:55potentially excluding critical areas used
- 7:58for forging and migration. This is a
- 8:02really, I feel like it's a political way
- 8:04of looking at how we're defining
- 8:08protecting species, especially endangered
- 8:11species. We are just saying, you know,
- 8:13wherever they live, wherever they sleep,
- 8:14that's what we're going to protect. But
- 8:16we're not going to protect their
- 8:17food sources. We're not going to protect
- 8:18where they have to migrate if they have
- 8:20to migrate over a certain period of time
- 8:21or during certain seasons, we're just
- 8:24going to protect where they sleep. And
- 8:25that's it. And hopefully, that will work
- 8:27out. This tells me that they just do not
- 8:30care about these species. There's also a
- 8:33shift in permits to registration. So the
- 8:36current endangered species act requires
- 8:37permits for activities that might harm
- 8:39species at risk, or their habitats that
- 8:42the specific permits and those are
- 8:43really, really hard to get. But under the
- 8:45new act, the species conservation act,
- 8:47there's a registration first approach
- 8:49allowing proponents to proceed with
- 8:51activities after registering them online.
- 8:54So without a prior environmental review.
- 8:56So this change could expedite
- 8:58development. So development of houses or
- 9:01are like highways or infrastructure, but
- 9:03raises concerns about reduced oversight.
- 9:05So essentially, they just have to say,
- 9:07I'm going to do this in this area. And
- 9:09they're going to say, yeah, okay, you get
- 9:10pre approved because you've already
- 9:12planned to do this. It does not make
- 9:14sense to protect
- 9:15these endangered species.
- 9:16Then, of course, there's these the
- 9:18government discretion over a species
- 9:20listing. So while the committee on the
- 9:22status of species at risk in Ontario,
- 9:25Cassaro will continue to assess species,
- 9:28the final decision to list or deal a
- 9:30species under the CSA, which is a species
- 9:33conservation act is rest with the
- 9:35provincial government. So the provincial
- 9:36government decides, you know what, we're
- 9:38actually not going to worry about that
- 9:39because we really want this highway to go
- 9:41through. So these salamanders that are in
- 9:43the green belt, we're not going to worry about them.
- 9:45We're going to just worry about we want
- 9:48this highway to go through because you
- 9:49know what with the scandal that they had
- 9:51my buddy over here is going to stand to
- 9:54make about $2 billion from this housing
- 9:56project in the highways and all this kind
- 9:58of stuff. And I want him to him or her to
- 10:01benefit. And that's really what's going
- 10:02to happen. So he allows more political
- 10:04scandals to happen and less species at
- 10:07risk protection. We're also going to
- 10:09eliminate recovery of strategy. So
- 10:10remember, I said that, you know, in the
- 10:12endangered species act, you have a
- 10:13recovery plan, which is really going to be really important. And you can go through that with us. But we're going to look at the, you know, healthcare there's a kind of a business plan in there. And we're going to look at, if you'll like, with us, it's going to be a business plan. And we're going to look at the, you know, a lot of the, what we're going to do next. It's going to be a business plan. A lot
- 10:15important to have a recovery plan to make
- 10:17sure that we know how
- 10:18to monitor the species,
- 10:19how to put it all together, and all of a
- 10:22sudden now we're not
- 10:23going to have a recovery plan.
- 10:24That's just the way we're going to do it.
- 10:25We're just not going to have this
- 10:26recovery plan to aid the
- 10:28recovery of the threatened
- 10:29species.
- 10:30It just makes no sense whatsoever.
- 10:35There's exemptions for
- 10:35federally protected species.
- 10:37So species already protected under the
- 10:38federal legislation, such as
- 10:40migratory birds and aquatic
- 10:42species would be excluded
- 10:43from the CSA's provisions.
- 10:45This aims to reduce regulatory
- 10:47duplication, but may leave gaps in
- 10:52protection on provincial
- 10:53lands.
- 10:53So in other words, if there is a species
- 10:55at risk that's
- 10:56registered with the federal
- 10:57species at risk, but not in the
- 10:59Endangered Species Act,
- 11:00this province isn't going to
- 11:01worry about it.
- 11:02Ontario's not going to worry about it.
- 11:03But when it's on provincial lands, they
- 11:05have to worry about it and
- 11:06they may just get overlooked.
- 11:07So that's something
- 11:08that they worry about.
- 11:10So the creation of special economic
- 11:12zones, this is going to
- 11:13be an interesting one.
- 11:14Bill five, which is the bill that's going
- 11:15to change all this,
- 11:16introduces the Special
- 11:18Economic Zone Act of 2025, allowing the
- 11:21government to designate
- 11:22areas where certain provincial
- 11:24regulations, including environmental
- 11:25protections, may not apply.
- 11:28This could facilitate development
- 11:30projects, but raises
- 11:31concerns about the protection or
- 11:33the potential bypassing of
- 11:34environmental safeguards.
- 11:35In other words, if the government wants a
- 11:38particular area to be developed, they're
- 11:40going to get it developed because they're
- 11:41just want it to be developed.
- 11:42They don't care what
- 11:42species at risk are there.
- 11:44They're not going to care.
- 11:45And this is the problem.
- 11:46Here are the implications.
- 11:47So environmental organizations, we have
- 11:49the Environmental
- 11:50Defense Fund, we have the David
- 11:51Suzuki Foundation.
- 11:52We have pretty much everything that you
- 11:55can say, any type of protection.
- 11:57So Wildlife Conservation Society, we have
- 11:59all these different places that different
- 12:02organizations that are hating this bill.
- 12:05They are saying this is not good at all.
- 12:08Eco justice as well.
- 12:10Ontario Nature as well.
- 12:11They've expressed strong opposition,
- 12:14arguing that it
- 12:14undermines species conservation or
- 12:16species protection and prioritizes
- 12:18economic development over
- 12:19ecological sustainability.
- 12:21Critics highlight that the bill could
- 12:23lead to increased habitat
- 12:24destruction and a decline
- 12:26in biodiversity.
- 12:27So now here's the thing is the public has
- 12:30the opportunity to
- 12:32provide feedback to the
- 12:33proposed changes through the
- 12:34environmental registry of
- 12:35Ontario until May 17th, 2025.
- 12:38So whether you live in Ontario or you do
- 12:41not live in Ontario,
- 12:42if you do not want to
- 12:43see species at risk decline even more,
- 12:46this is your chance to say something.
- 12:48I'm going to put a link into the, uh,
- 12:51like a, there's an
- 12:52environmental registry listing
- 12:54for the law.
- 12:54So you can do that and
- 12:55you can have your say.
- 12:57And there's some, if you look at this,
- 12:59uh, this org, this
- 13:01organization, there's a lot
- 13:01of organization.
- 13:02I'm going to put a link to it where you
- 13:03can actually find out
- 13:04what you can do and what
- 13:06you can say to your MPP or your ministry
- 13:09of, uh, your was it
- 13:10ministry of provincial
- 13:11parliament.
- 13:12You can actually say, Hey, you know what?
- 13:14I don't like this at all.
- 13:16I think this is awful.
- 13:17You have like, they have to listen, they
- 13:18have to listen to you.
- 13:19And so the more people
- 13:21speak up, the better it is.
- 13:23So there are organizations like
- 13:24environmental defense fund,
- 13:25um, or yeah, the environmental
- 13:27defense Alliance, I
- 13:28think, or whatever it's called.
- 13:29They are trying to get people to speak up
- 13:32and this is your
- 13:32chance to speak up not only
- 13:33for the ocean, but this is
- 13:34just for Ontario as well.
- 13:36And for the great lakes and for anything
- 13:37that is around in and
- 13:39around Ontario, this
- 13:40is going to be really important.
- 13:43Okay.
- 13:43So this is, this is something that we
- 13:44have to, we have to really worry about.
- 13:47Um, the big thing to do, like when you,
- 13:49when you actually speak
- 13:50out against it is to demand
- 13:52retention of the endangered species act.
- 13:54The one that was, that was put into place
- 13:56in 2007, it was actually one of the, like
- 13:59the world renowned, uh,
- 14:01endangered species acts.
- 14:02So this is something
- 14:02that's really important.
- 14:04So really under like emphasize that the
- 14:06endangered species act, scientific
- 14:07foundations and mandatory
- 14:08recovery strategies are critical for
- 14:11effective conservation.
- 14:12You can highlight concerns
- 14:13about habitat redefinition.
- 14:15The fact that, look, arguing the
- 14:16narrowing of the definition
- 14:17of habitat to just the dens,
- 14:20uh, where we'll leave, you know,
- 14:23essential feeding, breeding
- 14:24and migratory areas unprotected.
- 14:26You can cite how this change weakens real
- 14:28world protections of
- 14:29real world protections
- 14:31of the ground on the ground.
- 14:32Um, and so, you know, also you can object
- 14:35to the deregulation
- 14:35via registration first
- 14:37approach, which I talked about.
- 14:39We can reject politicization of species
- 14:41listings, which is
- 14:42basically saying, look, if there's
- 14:43a species that's in trouble and it's been
- 14:45highlighted as being
- 14:46in trouble and should
- 14:46be listed or considered listed under the
- 14:49endangered species act,
- 14:50politicians may like, yeah, but
- 14:51we really want to develop in that area.
- 14:53So we don't really
- 14:53care about the species.
- 14:55That's going to really delay the process.
- 14:57Um, and that's, that's,
- 14:58that's going to be a real problem.
- 14:59Now I wanted to know, I did a little bit
- 15:01of in for, uh, of research on what has
- 15:04happened in the past,
- 15:05like real world, you know, things of
- 15:08weakening in the endangered species act.
- 15:09The United States actually weakened the U
- 15:11S endangered species
- 15:12act under, guess what?
- 15:13The Trump era rollbacks in 2019, the U S
- 15:15government rolled back key
- 15:16provisions of the S A, including
- 15:18allowing economic factors
- 15:19and decisions to list species.
- 15:21Have you noticed a pattern here?
- 15:23Economic factors is a huge thing in, uh,
- 15:26when we make these changes to the
- 15:27endangered species acts, uh, they also
- 15:29made it harder to designate critical
- 15:31habitat and they removed automatic
- 15:33protections for newly
- 15:35listed threatened species.
- 15:36So this is, that's not a good thing.
- 15:38The impact was it led to the delays and
- 15:41listing of several declining species,
- 15:42such as the Wolverine and the great sage
- 15:44grouse, despite a strong scientific
- 15:47evidence showing that
- 15:48they should be listed.
- 15:48Also habitat development projects like
- 15:50pipelines mining proceeded in areas
- 15:52formerly under stronger federal
- 15:54protection, especially in Western states
- 15:57like Alaska and Utah.
- 15:59So that was one of the examples and also
- 16:01Ontario did some amendments in 2019 to
- 16:04the endangered species act under bill
- 16:06108, the Ford government, which is the
- 16:08same government previously weakened the
- 16:09endangered species act, um, by allowing
- 16:12developers to pay into a fund instead of
- 16:14protecting species on site.
- 16:15So essentially you can destroy an area, a
- 16:17habitat, but you had to pay into a fund
- 16:19that may have gone into something that
- 16:21was a different project.
- 16:23That's a normal thing or
- 16:24that's not a normal thing.
- 16:25That's something that's happened before
- 16:27with species at risk or
- 16:28even just fish habitat.
- 16:30When we look at federal regulations, they
- 16:32also let the cabinet delay protections of
- 16:34newly listed species.
- 16:35Again, have you seen the, the, uh, the
- 16:37pattern here and then they reduced the
- 16:39independence of the cassera, which is
- 16:41scientific committee, uh, that
- 16:42designates these, uh, species.
- 16:45So according to Ontario nature species,
- 16:47like the woodland caribou and bats at
- 16:49risk of extinction saw little meaningful
- 16:51protection and the offsetting fund has
- 16:53been criticized for lacking transparency,
- 16:56surprise, surprise and effectiveness in
- 16:58achieving conservation outcomes.
- 17:00This also happened in
- 17:01Australia and a lot of other places.
- 17:03And so the common themes and delaying the
- 17:05protections, weakening deaf habitat
- 17:07definitions and scientific being
- 17:10basically science being sidelined, which
- 17:11is a lot of times happening when we talk
- 17:14about, uh, you know, taking away a
- 17:16rolling back environmental protections
- 17:18for, uh, for basically increasing the,
- 17:22the potential of development, the
- 17:24potential for building the economy and,
- 17:27and, and now in Canada and Ontario,
- 17:28especially we have seen a big focus and a
- 17:32big shift on environmental protection.
- 17:33Um, you know, being independent, growing
- 17:35our economy and how
- 17:36do we grow our economy?
- 17:38We develop and we build and we expand and
- 17:40all this kind of stuff.
- 17:41And unfortunately, this is
- 17:42what I was worried about.
- 17:43Um, you know, it's all happened.
- 17:45It has to happen at the consequence of
- 17:48environment basically,
- 17:50which, which really sucks.
- 17:51In this case, it's endangered species and
- 17:53their habitat, their
- 17:54critical habitat, if you will.
- 17:56So that is the story for this just
- 17:58getting started on here.
- 18:00I know we're taking a little bit longer.
- 18:01This is going to be a
- 18:01longer episode, but that's okay.
- 18:04Let's get into the next episode.
- 18:06Now this is something or the next story.
- 18:07Now this is something that is interesting
- 18:09because, um, we're
- 18:11going to be talking about
- 18:12a new policy, actually a good policy
- 18:14that's going into Hawaii.
- 18:16It's got a video it's on TikTok is from
- 18:18Chris or Cabara friend of the podcast.
- 18:20She's been on the podcast before.
- 18:21She has an organization called future
- 18:22swell where she partners
- 18:24with different people to
- 18:26talk, uh, to do conservation, whether it
- 18:28be coral restoration
- 18:29within Hawaii, whether
- 18:30it be talking about or creating
- 18:32storytelling opportunities for their
- 18:34partners or even doing
- 18:35storytelling for certain projects.
- 18:38It's a great organization.
- 18:39Future swell.
- 18:40Check that out.
- 18:41Um, but also here is, I'm just going to
- 18:43hit up the scene here.
- 18:45We're going to be talking about what is
- 18:46important and why it's been
- 18:48important to Carissa to get
- 18:50this.
- 18:50And we're going to be, she talks a little
- 18:51bit about it, uh,
- 18:53more about the completion
- 18:54of five years of work.
- 18:55So give me a sec here.
- 18:56I'm going to cue it up and take a listen.
- 18:58Hopefully you can hear this.
- 18:59No fricking idea how
- 19:01good it feels to do this.
- 19:02This is my 2025 impact calendar.
- 19:09Pass transformational policy.
- 19:16You have no fricking
- 19:17idea how good it feels.
- 19:19So I'm just going to, I'm
- 19:21just going to pause it here.
- 19:22So she doesn't tell a lot about it.
- 19:24She goes into a little
- 19:26bit more detail here.
- 19:27I think she's enjoying the fact that
- 19:30she's been able to do it.
- 19:32Um, delusion.
- 19:32A nice, a nice trend on
- 19:38TikTok using, using a sound.
- 19:41I love Chris's video is really great, but
- 19:43she basically, you
- 19:43know, is proud of herself
- 19:44of working with partners for just past
- 19:46landmark climate
- 19:47legislation and first visitor, visitor
- 19:50green fee in the nation
- 19:51after five years of organizing.
- 19:53So essentially she goes into a little bit
- 19:54more detail here
- 19:55where she said, uh, oh no,
- 19:57sorry, it goes, go back to the other, uh,
- 19:59Andrew, go back to
- 20:00the other video and just
- 20:01going to pause it.
- 20:02Uh, so basically, uh, it says here, so
- 20:05for every tourist in
- 20:06Hawaii to Hawaii who books
- 20:08a $400 hotel room per night, $3 of that
- 20:11will go to climate solutions.
- 20:12Still a small portion, but $3 of that
- 20:14will go to common decision.
- 20:16Doesn't look like
- 20:16it's a tax on top of it.
- 20:18Um, but it does look like
- 20:19it's going to be included.
- 20:20We'll go towards climate solutions
- 20:21because of our tourism
- 20:23industry that adds up to a hundred
- 20:24million dollars a
- 20:25year for climate forever.
- 20:28So this is a policy that's really
- 20:30important for Hawaii.
- 20:31If you think about it, there's so many
- 20:33people that traveled to
- 20:33a place like Hawaii for a
- 20:35lot of different reasons.
- 20:37Hawaii is a gorgeous place.
- 20:39Uh, I just visited a couple of, but a
- 20:40couple of months ago now
- 20:41feels like it was forever
- 20:42ago on the Island of Hawaii, Oahu, where
- 20:45Carissa lives and it's
- 20:47beautiful, but you've
- 20:47got to think about, you know, the travel
- 20:49there, the amount of planes that go
- 20:50there, the amount of boats, the amount of
- 20:52gas that's being used, uh, the amount of
- 20:54people that are just going in there and
- 20:57be honest, like kind of ruining some of
- 20:59the essence of the culture and the
- 21:01environment as they are just being there.
- 21:04And you need to have somewhere or a pot
- 21:07of money and funds to be able to, uh,
- 21:09help and make sure that the corals are in
- 21:12good shape, make sure that there's no
- 21:13cumulative effect, like development,
- 21:15tourism in terms of
- 21:16people like hitting the coral.
- 21:18So, yeah, I think that's a really good question.
- 21:19I think that's a really good question. I think that's a really good question. You know, there's a lot of people that
- 21:23don't know that they're not allowed to
- 21:23wear a certain sunscreen.
- 21:24And you know, I mean, I think it's really good to have a person who's
- 21:25wearing a certain sunscreen.
- 21:26You know, if you're wearing a bad
- 21:28sunscreen, you can kill the corals or you
- 21:29can damage the corals further.
- 21:31So, uh, having a fun that helps restore
- 21:34not only the marine environment, but the
- 21:36land environment for the people of Hawaii
- 21:38who are inviting people to come.
- 21:40They're not saying that they don't want
- 21:41people to come or most of
- 21:42them don't want people to come.
- 21:44But you know, there's a, there's a cost
- 21:46at that and that's to the environment
- 21:48which they live in and
- 21:49survive off of and they need.
- 21:51And so having this, this, this fund or
- 21:54this climate solutions cost will be
- 21:58really important for the island of
- 22:00Hawaii, the islands of Hawaii.
- 22:01And I think that's, that's a, that's
- 22:03something that I feel is going to be,
- 22:05we're going to see that
- 22:06more and more locally.
- 22:08Niagara Falls is a huge tourist spot.
- 22:10They actually have a tourist tax and not
- 22:12a lot of people like to
- 22:13pay it, but we pay it.
- 22:15And because they need to, you know,
- 22:17revitalize Niagara Falls, they need to
- 22:19make sure that it's, they can continue
- 22:21to, um, you know, basically the tourists
- 22:24who enjoy it will have to pay for it.
- 22:26So that enjoyment and pay for that
- 22:27revitalization, pay for restoration and
- 22:30all that kind of stuff and making sure
- 22:31that it's protected.
- 22:32So that it was a quick, I just wanted to
- 22:34go through that because that's a quick
- 22:35thing because I think it's really
- 22:36important that we, we look at that.
- 22:38Now let's go to the next thing. And this
- 22:40is just, I'm going to go quickly over
- 22:42this because I don't want to do too long
- 22:44of an episode, but frill shark.
- 22:46This I saw today as I was looking at it
- 22:48and I think it's something that's of
- 22:50interest because Melissa Marquez, a good
- 22:52friend of mine, she is a contributor for
- 22:56Forbes magazine among that.
- 22:57She's an author. She's a social media
- 23:00influencer. She's been on shark week, a
- 23:02TV personality, national geographic.
- 23:03She's done a lot of things, even taking a
- 23:06bite from a crocodile on the leg. I've
- 23:08told that story a number of times.
- 23:10I still can't believe that actually
- 23:11happened. However, we are going to be
- 23:13talking about something
- 23:14that's really important here.
- 23:15A bit of a discovery really, uh, the
- 23:18first male frilled shark found in Chilean
- 23:20waters. This is kind of a cool.
- 23:22So you can read it here. I'll put the
- 23:24link in the show notes. Um, but it just
- 23:26basically says, you know, the, this,
- 23:28this, this frilled shark
- 23:30was first described in 1884.
- 23:31Uh, it's one of the deepest sea
- 23:33creatures. Uh, it looks like a, a, a,
- 23:35like it swam straight out of prehistoric
- 23:37times. It says here. And, and to be
- 23:39honest, it, it scares a lot
- 23:41of people when they see it.
- 23:42It's, it's a very long shark. It almost
- 23:44looks like a big snake. Um, it's got like
- 23:46these white eyes, which is kind of
- 23:48interesting. Um, and it's got, you can
- 23:50really see the frilled gills here. And I
- 23:52think it's a, it's a really interesting
- 23:54species, but they haven't been seen many,
- 23:57uh, despite wide, but scattered
- 23:58distribution, the
- 23:59Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- 24:00Very few frilled sharks have ever been
- 24:02observed or collected fewer than 40
- 24:04specimens actually have been documented
- 24:06since it is for, it was first described
- 24:08making each new find
- 24:10scientifically valuable.
- 24:12So in a recent study, researchers
- 24:13reported a rare discovery, a male frilled
- 24:16shark caught off Chilo island is in
- 24:19Southern Chile. Uh, not only is it the
- 24:21first time first confirmed male of the
- 24:24species recorded in Chilean waters.
- 24:25It also extends the known range of the
- 24:28frilled shark in the South, the Southeast
- 24:30Pacific by roughly 530 miles. So 850
- 24:33kilometers, uh, southward. So that's
- 24:35really cool. Um, and so this is just, it
- 24:38goes on to talk about, you know, some of the, the, the depth.
- 24:40So it was actually at a depth of about
- 24:43500 meters. Um, so that's 1640 feet for
- 24:46my American friends. Um, and so it, it,
- 24:50they were caught in 2015. They were
- 24:51actually granted access to look at in
- 24:532023. Hence why it's taken so long to
- 24:56publish on it. Um, in total 48 body
- 24:58measures were taken to compare this male
- 25:00to the previously known female specimen
- 25:02that was collected as well as filled
- 25:03sharks documented in other parts of the
- 25:05world. Now, so there's been a couple of
- 25:07different things. So the two Chilean species shared no significant morphological
- 25:08features, but the researchers did find
- 25:13some anatomical variation when comparing
- 25:16to them to specimens from other regions.
- 25:19So they noticed that the Chilean sharks
- 25:21had longer heads and smaller pelvic fins
- 25:23relative to their total body length.
- 25:26These differences fall within known range
- 25:27of variation of the species, but could
- 25:29also be influenced by the sexual
- 25:31dimorphism or the preservation method. So
- 25:33essentially the sexual dimorphism is that
- 25:35males are different size than females. This has been a very interesting process.
- 25:37And females, this happens in a lot of
- 25:38fish in the ocean. So in males, for
- 25:41example, the pelvic fins can be
- 25:42proportionally larger than the females,
- 25:44but still the sample size is too small to
- 25:46really draw any, any firm conclusions.
- 25:48And the research team noted that further
- 25:50studies would be needed and more
- 25:52specimens would be needed to determine
- 25:53whether these differences are typical of
- 25:55the regions filled shark population. Now,
- 25:57what's interesting too is that when you
- 25:58have such a length and in the geography,
- 26:01like a difference in geography of where
- 26:03these are collected and maybe even just a
- 26:05difference in the morphology.
- 26:06If there are enough species to tell maybe
- 26:09this becomes two different species, we
- 26:11don't know. We can't even tell right now,
- 26:13this is a complete assumption, a complete
- 26:15guess, but that'd be something that I
- 26:16would be interested in seeing what's
- 26:19going to happen. But they need more
- 26:20specimens. I just thought this was kind
- 26:22of cool because it always makes the news.
- 26:23If there's a video of a frilled shark, it
- 26:26always does well on the internet. If you
- 26:30look at this, it looks really weird. A
- 26:32lot of people call it a monster. It's in
- 26:33the deep sea. It doesn't come up often when it does come up usually.
- 26:35It's not alive and that's just the way it
- 26:39goes. But I thought it was interesting. I
- 26:40thought I want to share that with you.
- 26:42Hope you enjoy it. I'd love to hear your
- 26:44thoughts. Let me know in the comments
- 26:45below. But let's get back to the rest of
- 26:48the show. So here we go. We're looking,
- 26:51you know, I covered this on Wednesday's
- 26:54episode where I talked to Dr. Andrew
- 26:57Thaler. We talked about the International
- 26:58Seabed Authority and how the metal company, which is a Canadian company decided, hey, you know, you can do this.
- 27:00I'm going to actually talk to the US
- 27:07because there's a guy, President Donald
- 27:08Trump, who might want to be interested in
- 27:11deep sea mining in the US waters and
- 27:14maybe he'll sponsor me to go to the high
- 27:17seas. Talked a lot about that. Check out
- 27:19that episode with Andrew Thaler. But
- 27:21there was a there was really two big
- 27:23things that came out of that interview
- 27:24that I got from that interview. Essentially one that they could go ahead and do deep sea mining within the US waters.
- 27:34Going outside of those waters and going
- 27:36into the high seas, that's going to be
- 27:38something different because they are not
- 27:39part of unclos, which is the law of the
- 27:42sea. And so that means they are basically
- 27:44disobeying that law. There's no
- 27:45enforcement of that law. But what might happen as Andrew Thaler mentioned, he's like, hey, you know what? If they start to disobey that law, what's to say that China does like start to disobeying that water?
- 27:55And it just starts a really bad
- 27:59precedence and that's something that we
- 28:01don't want to do. So there is a little
- 28:03bit more to the story. It was developing.
- 28:05I saw this right before I recorded and I want to talk about it today. So we are going to talk about it's going back to Chris's tiktok. And I think it's pretty interesting because I'm going to let you listen to the story.
- 28:07But it's something that I feel is going
- 28:18to be something that we need to we need
- 28:21to talk about. So I'm just going to hook
- 28:23it up or set it up here. So just give me
- 28:25a second. And here we go.
- 29:29That's why it's such a big deal that
- 29:30Trump issued the
- 29:30executive order because he went
- 29:31around this huge international governing
- 29:33body and they clapped back.
- 29:36The first way they clapped back is they
- 29:37put this FAQ on the
- 29:39International Seabed Authority
- 29:40website and look at it says, "Due to
- 29:43recent developments with
- 29:44the U.S. Executive Order
- 29:45and the metal company and with the
- 29:46corporation that wants to buy the DC."
- 29:48This is actually really good for any of
- 29:50you who want to dive
- 29:50more into the issue, but
- 29:52then they issued a
- 29:53direct statement to the U.S.
- 29:56And it is so spicy. It basically just
- 29:59reminds the U.S. that no
- 30:01state can exercise any rights
- 30:04over the seabed and the mineral resources
- 30:07that are found within
- 30:07it because it is the
- 30:08common heritage of all mankind.
- 30:10And then she goes on to say that this
- 30:12executive order could
- 30:13destabilize the entire global
- 30:16system of ocean governance. That's what
- 30:18Trump's trying to do.
- 30:19Now, this is an attack on global
- 30:21agreements, geopolitical
- 30:22relationships, and it's also
- 30:24going against the fact that all of these
- 30:27countries have agreed that the
- 30:28seabed is the common heritage
- 30:29of all humankind. And so that cannot be
- 30:32changed just because one
- 30:33president or dictator decides
- 30:36what it should be. So, yeah, the backpack
- 30:37was strong and team was easy.
- 30:41Yeah. OK, so there's a bit.
- 30:43OK, so this is an interesting thing here.
- 30:45I'm just going to
- 30:46turn down the music here,
- 30:47trying to get some back-bone music to go
- 30:49with the vibes. This is
- 30:51an interesting development.
- 30:53So the ISA actually comes out as as Chris
- 30:55says and says, hey, you know what? If you
- 30:57do this, if you go like if you go beyond
- 30:59your exclusive economic zone, you go into
- 31:02international waters into the high seas,
- 31:05you are going to take
- 31:06away everything that people
- 31:08have agreed for decades, you know,
- 31:11multiple decades that all
- 31:12these countries, which is
- 31:14hard to get everybody to agree, but all
- 31:15these countries who have
- 31:16signed on, even the ones
- 31:18that haven't signed on have agreed that
- 31:20this area is kind of off marks other than
- 31:23a couple of other, you know, couple of
- 31:24players like that do some
- 31:26illegal activities, which is another
- 31:28problem. But once countries start to do
- 31:30this on purpose, like Donald Trump is
- 31:31trying to do with the
- 31:33U.S. and saying, hey, you know what? If
- 31:34we want to deep sea mine in the high
- 31:36seas, nobody's really going to stop us.
- 31:37True. Nobody's really
- 31:39going to stop them. But what it's going
- 31:40to do is when they want something done or
- 31:42not done in the high seas
- 31:44or something else done in
- 31:46another U.N. proposition, then maybe
- 31:48those countries like, well, if you don't
- 31:49abide by it, why should we abide by it?
- 31:51And to be honest, they're kind of right.
- 31:53This is these international agreements,
- 31:55although there's no police force to
- 31:56enforce them, they're kind of enforced on
- 31:58themselves where, you
- 32:00know, if some if a country does
- 32:02something that goes against it, they get
- 32:04shamed. You know, for a long time, the
- 32:06International Whale Commission, the IWC,
- 32:08you know, banned whaling.
- 32:10And when the Japanese started whaling in
- 32:12international waters, they were, you
- 32:14know, they were they were embarrassed,
- 32:15basically, they were they were told like,
- 32:17hey, what are you doing?
- 32:18You're going against all these
- 32:19agreements. You're doing this, you're
- 32:20doing that. And eventually, you know,
- 32:22with some pressure from some nonprofit
- 32:23organizations like Sea Shepherd and
- 32:25others, they eventually went back and
- 32:27said, you know what?
- 32:28This is too much of a headache. We're
- 32:30putting too many people in danger for a
- 32:32number of reasons and of our own of our
- 32:34own citizens. So we're going to going to
- 32:36wail in our own exclusive economic zone.
- 32:40When you start to end, the sanctions can
- 32:42happen if they start going into high seas
- 32:44and so forth. And so that could be a huge
- 32:46problem for countries. And, you know,
- 32:48we've never really seen this from a
- 32:50country like the U.S. before.
- 32:52Obviously, the president doesn't really
- 32:55care about international agreements. He
- 32:56just cares for what he thinks is good for
- 32:59the U.S., which a lot of people disagree,
- 33:01especially in this case. And so it's
- 33:03ruffling a lot of
- 33:04feathers around the world.
- 33:05It's not making a huge deal because
- 33:07there's so many other things that, you
- 33:08know, like tariffs and other things that
- 33:10people are worried about. But it is going
- 33:12to be a problem if if, you know, the
- 33:15president decides, you know, we're just
- 33:16going to go ahead and do it anyway.
- 33:18And as Dr. Andrew Thaler said in my
- 33:20interview, the metal company that's
- 33:22Canadian company that's doing this,
- 33:24that's kind of perpetrate or like kind of
- 33:26pushing this is it could be almost out of
- 33:29money and needs to do this deep sea mine.
- 33:30They've been doing this for 10 years.
- 33:32They've been doing this for a long time.
- 33:33And, you know, they are a company that
- 33:34wants to move quickly. They're a company
- 33:36that wants to be able to deep sea mine.
- 33:38And I get it from a business perspective,
- 33:40but also from a perspective of we don't
- 33:43know what's going to happen to the deep
- 33:44sea if we stop mining or if we start
- 33:46mining. And that is a dangerous
- 33:48situation. If we screw up the deep sea,
- 33:51we could be screwing up a lot of long
- 33:53term processes that we just have no idea
- 33:56and understanding of from a scientific
- 33:58level and from a nature level and what
- 33:59we're doing to the balance of nature.
- 34:01The ocean covers over 70% of our planet.
- 34:05The deep sea is a big portion of that.
- 34:07And we know virtually nothing about it.
- 34:09So this is it could be very dangerous in
- 34:12the way that we play. But again, the fact
- 34:14that there's a big push economically to
- 34:16develop this is always the driving force
- 34:19behind trying to mess up the environment.
- 34:21I wish there's a point where we could
- 34:22actually figure out how to develop
- 34:24economically and develop and protect
- 34:27environmentally. I think if we could meld
- 34:29those two together, we can really do some
- 34:31good. But it doesn't
- 34:32seem to happen all the time.
- 34:33But regardless, that's what's been
- 34:36happening. The ISA is like, hey, you know
- 34:38what? We need to say something about
- 34:39this. We're not going to take this lying
- 34:40down, which I'm glad. I'm glad they're
- 34:42putting it out into in
- 34:43the open into the public.
- 34:45Other countries are obviously part of
- 34:47this international seabed authority. And
- 34:49this is something that we need to talk
- 34:50about from a world perspective. This is
- 34:54very dangerous in terms of not only just
- 34:56just deep sea mining, but just
- 34:58governance,
- 34:59international governance in itself.
- 35:00So that's what we're going to that's how
- 35:02we're going to end off the show. Really
- 35:04interesting thing here. So I'm just going
- 35:06to get my last little closer here. I
- 35:10think it's this one here. There we go.
- 35:13That's it for today's episode.
- 35:14You know, I want to thank you so much for
- 35:15the patience. I know this is a 35 minute
- 35:17episode plus. And so I'm going to divide
- 35:20these up into little chunks over the
- 35:22weekend so you can take a look or maybe
- 35:24over the day, you can take a look at each
- 35:25of these individual stories. But I want
- 35:27to thank you so much. I'd love to hear
- 35:28what you think of this format. If you
- 35:30would attend live, when would you attend?
- 35:32I'd love to hear that. Hit me up in the
- 35:34comments below. If you're watching this
- 35:35on YouTube, and if you want to hit me up,
- 35:37you can do so at how to protect the ocean
- 35:40on Instagram. Just DM me. And if you go
- 35:42to the web, our
- 35:42website, speak up for blue.com.
- 35:43For slash contact, you can fill out the
- 35:47form. You can get right access into to
- 35:49me. It goes right to my personal email
- 35:51once you fill out the form. And I would
- 35:53love to hear you. If you want to hear the
- 35:54audio version and you're not not into the
- 35:56visual version, which is fine. That's
- 35:58where I started on this. That's where
- 36:00I'll probably always be posting. And this
- 36:02there will be an audio version of this.
- 36:03This is these lives as well. So you're
- 36:06not going to miss any kind of these these
- 36:07episodes. The reason why I'm doing the
- 36:09lives is because there's so many stories that are coming out lately that I want to cover.
- 36:11Them as soon as possible. And I don't
- 36:14want to wait like a couple of days before
- 36:16it gets going. So that's why I'm doing
- 36:18these lives. But if you want to go, if
- 36:20you want to search up the podcast is how
- 36:21to protect the ocean on your favorite
- 36:23podcast app. I want to thank you so much
- 36:25for joining me on today's episode of the
- 36:27how to protect the ocean podcast. I'm
- 36:28your host, Andrew Lewin. Have a great
- 36:29day. We'll talk to you next
- 36:30time and happy conservation.