Ecosystems and Biodiversity A new study from Ocean Wise Seafood’s Laurenne Schiller into the economics of deep sea fishing has suggested that the industry isn’t important to global food security, despite what fishers say. Most high-seas fishery catch is destined for upscale restaurants and store counters in America, Western Europe, and Asia and these fishing […]

Seafood is confusing. Have you ever wondered about the difference between steelhead and trout? Chinook and king salmon? Black cod and sablefish? The list goes on, but these pairs of fish are the same species and legally they can be sold in Canada under either name. Frequently, seafood is renamed to sound more appealing and […]

UBC researchers analyzed data from 1,226 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanups between 2013 and 2016 and recently announced a major discovery: 50 per cent of the waste recovered during cleanups of Vancouver and Victoria shorelines came from cigarettes. This, despite the fact that smoking on beaches has been banned in Vancouver for eight years, and in […]

The Vancouver Aquarium, as part of a cross-border team of organizations and institutions, is on a mission to save an ailing Southern Resident Killer Whale. On August 9, Vancouver Aquarium’s head veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena was on the response team that reached the ailing Southern Resident killer whale J50, aka Scarlet, in Canadian waters. Dr. […]

Ecosystems and Biodiversity Mankind leaves its mark on the ocean in many ways: shipping, fishing, pollution, drilling and other impacts. But how much of the world’s oceans are still pristine? The answer: roughly 13%. Those untouched areas are mostly in the frigid polar seas and the remotest parts of the Pacific Ocean. Although these areas […]

Ecosystems and Biodiversity As far as we know, only four species experience menopause: orcas, pilot whales, false killer whales and humans. So, why did these species evolve this late-stage inability to bear offspring? A study on the nursing habits of bottlenose dolphins, which don’t experience menopause, may give us part of the answer. Older dolphin mothers […]

Every weekend Zahidah Zeytoun Millie used to venture into the calm mangroves of Umm Al Quwain from her old home in the United Arab Emirates. From her small, red kayak she painted the water trees, known as mangroves, that grow out of estuaries across the Arabian Gulf. The UAE is actually home to nearly 50% […]

Dr. David Shiffman is in the basement of the Vancouver Aquarium, taking a three-dimensional picture of a spiny dogfish jaw. It’s trickier than you might think. Using a free app called QLONE, he fills in a cone of grey space on his phone’s screen that surrounds the jaw. “I might invest in the $5 version […]