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political decision Everyone, In honour of the blackoutspeakout I'm releasing the text of my observations of federal ministers of fisheries and "natural resources" at the recent National Fish & Wildlife Conservation Congress in Ottawa, on May 31. This Congress was announced as attempting "to deal with challenges such as wildlife and agriculture conflicts, fish & wildlife diseases, alien invasive species, species at risk, policy and legislative changes, among others." Its website is: http://www.nfwcc.com =========================================================== Introduction of ministers: There's evidently an “outdoor caucus” of MP's discussing “outdoor issues” of the “outdoor community” - is this community made up of the ATV'ers or of the birders who hate them? Minister Ashfield (Fisheries): seems to be adult, if rather anthropocentric, and is called a “good friend of OFAH [Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters]” – but he's from New Brunswick. Whoops the “recreational fishery” as “contributing” $8.4 billion to “the economy,” but if it's recreational doesn't this activity “drain” this money from the economy – especially given that most of this money is spent on high-tech foopery of equipment and travel in which fishing tourists go to remote places so they won't have to experience or deal with the condition of fish population near their homes? Memo to conventional society: Economic activity directed towards harmful, useless, or frivolous ends is not good. No mention of individual subsistence fishing. The current budget-bill convulsions of the fish habitat protections are glossed over as allowing “routine activities that have no relevance to the fishery” to pass without review – but isn't it the review of everything that might affect fish that protects both the fisheries as well as the fish-for-themselves? Also they're going to speed up conservation by discontinuing reviews of “habitat enhancement projects,” but who's to say that your “habitat enhancement” for your favourite taxon won't be the death knell for some other taxon – Columbia River Leopard Frogs vs Ducks Unlimited, anyone? Also they're going to “protect important wetlands,” which I guess means landscape ecology isn't a science – for where, pray tell, can one find an unimportant wetland? The one action mentioned was millions for Asian Carp research – but what can Canada do: bomb Chicago back into the Stone Age? It's so characteristic of the things that are generously funded that there's no chance of their doing much good. Minister Kent ("Natural Resources"): Said to have been a famous broadcaster before going into politics, though one has never heard of him. At least he uses some French, however clumsily [this "national" conference was otherwise aggressively unilingual]. Did we have an “ambitious agenda” at this conference – It sure seemed vapid to me. He references “Canadians who have a tradition and history of conservation” – but that was the National Museum of Canada which has had its ability to work for conservation demolished by successive governments. If they're going to have a “Hunting and Angling Panel” are they going to have a “Herpetology and Malacology Panel?” They're going to have a “National Conservation Plan,” that will 1) Conserve landscapes, 2) Connect Canadians to nature, 3) Restore degraded ecosystems and SAR. If they would promote “stewardship in working landscapes,” in currently working landscapes, rather than trying this out in presently intact landscapes, this would be a commendable idea, but given their record so far one suspects they want to try it out in the currently intact areas. “Hunters and anglers are among the most ardent conservationists” – but their problems have all been solved, and their species are pretty much no longer in decline – what about coleopterists and the decline of Carabidae? Each minister was given a plastic mould of two hollow half-Mallards – an impenetrable symbolism from my point of view, but not conceivably in accord with the praise verbally lavished on their presence and addresses. =========================================================== ...keep in mind that these are the raw notes of an ecocentric conservative who believes that Canadian public policy should be based on keeping the biota intact and evolving until the Ice comes back and again obliterates it. fred ------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/ South Nation Basin Art & Science Book http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0 on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------
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