Did you know that right here in
the Pacific Northwest, we have among the richest diversity of seaweeds on the
planet? With over 650 species, some
still waiting to be discovered and at least one species having been named by
Bamfield’s own kelp expert, Dr. Louis Druehl, Ph.D., our foreshore invokes a
jaw-dropping sense of awe to some of the world’s leading phycologists.
Aside from the absolutely
astonishing health benefits of seaweeds, such as their hyper-abundance of rare
& essential minerals in bioavailable forms, their richness in most
vitamins, their effectiveness in treating many chronic and acute illnesses and
their promising preliminary results in the treatment and prevention of certain
types of cancer, they are ecologically critical. Most of the world’s oxygen is produced by
algae, and most of the world’s carbon is fixed by algae. Algae is the primary source that feeds the
world’s oceans that cover two thirds of our planet. Here in the Pacific Northwest, countless
species of invertebrates and vertebrates use the seaweed gardens as a
nursery. The Kelp Forests are an oasis
for a huge diversity of marine species and are among the most diverse ecosystems
in the Pacific Ocean.
If you
rely in any way on the ocean as part of your livelihood and lifestyle, then the
health of seaweeds is even more significant to you.
With
the government making decisions about whether to allow huge fleets of supertankers to transport oil from the
proposed pipeline in Kitimat and also
into terminals in Vancouver, we are deeply concerned. An oil spill on our west coast would smother
the seaweeds and the micro-algae, making it impossible for them to
photosynthesize and thus leading to mass die-offs of our ocean’s primary
source. Every level of the food chain
would be affected, either directly or indirectly, by an oil spill. The seaweeds, the prawns, the crabs, the
bivalves & univalves, the fish, the orcas and yes…our beloved salmon. Furthermore, the effects of an oil spill
‘clean-up’ could be almost equally catastrophic. Sometimes harsh chemicals unsafe for
consumption are used as well as a new technique that disperses the oil into small
particles that then cannot be collectively cleaned up and could continue to
suffocate the single-celled algae that are responsible for producing most of
the world’s oxygen supply (the very air we breathe), for unseen years to come.
With
consistent, heavy tanker traffic in our dangerous, stormy, wild Northern waters, a significant oil spill is statistically an
inevitability. As we have witnessed in
the past, an oil spill in the ocean is devastating to any marine
ecosystem. I believe a marine ecosystem
as rich and diverse and abundant as ours deserves the utmost care and collective
contemplation of the practices that we, as the people who live, work and play
here, allow in our delicate and near-pristine ocean ecosystem. If a major oil spill happens on our coast,
not only will our seaweeds disappear,
but so will the species dependent
upon it for food and shelter. So too, I
fear, will the health & lifestyle of the west-coaster.
Written by:
Amanda Swinimer, BSc+ Marine Biology, Owner /operator of
Dakini Tidal Wilds
Amanda wild-harvests local edible seaweeds and teaches
people about seaweeds via educational tours, workshops and at schools
AND
Christine Hopkins, registered aromatherapist,
thallassotherapist
Christine sells seaweed for therapeutic use in baths and for
skin absorption, and teaches people about the amazing healing properties of
seaweeds.
Amanda & Christine will be teaching classes on seaweeds
at Royal Roads University in winter/spring 2015.
