Defending our oceans

A large 'ghost net' inhabited by many various species of tropical fish floats under the sea during an underwater search for trash in the high seas of the Central North Pacific Ocean.

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Standing on the shores of Canada’s three coastlines, the oceans seem dark and infinite. But along the seaboard and beneath the waves lie unique ecosystems and habitats home to species of all shapes, colours and sizes. From microscopic plankton that form the basis of the food chain, to the largest species on Earth, the blue whale, our marine waters offer the most diverse habitats on the planet.

But our oceans are in deep trouble. Our once abundant waters are deteriorating due to profit-driven industrial fisheries, pirate vessels operating without license, unsustainable aquacultural systems, needless lethal research of whales, marine pollution, and the impacts of climate change. And our governments’ efforts to manage ocean resources have too often been ineffective and shortsighted.

Our seas need protection and they need it now. It’s time we demand that our seafood be sustainable, that our whales and other, often endangered, marine species be protected from sham research and marine pollution, and a global network of marine reserves covering 40 per cent of the world’s oceans be created to enable our ecosystems to recover.

What we do

Sustainable seafood markets

Marine Reserves

Non-lethal whale research

Recent Developments

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Ocean monuments? Thank you, George Bush

Thanks to President George Bush three national monuments in the Pacific will be created to protect the largest amount of ocean in the world to date. This is a truly rare opportunity for us to applaud the Bush administration!

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Greenpeace Canada executive director joins worldwide vigil to end Japanese whaling and the political persecution of the “Tokyo Two”

Greenpeace Canada’s executive director presented himself at the Japanese embassy in Ottawa this morning in hopes of being arrested as a co-defendant to two activists, dubbed the “Tokyo Two,” facing 10 years in prison for exposing the embezzlement of whale meat in Japan.

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Greenpeace activists show Loblaw how to remove Redlist species from their shelves

Greenpeace activists took Loblaw by surprise today across the country by removing Redlist seafood species from the shelves and placing them in shopping carts draped with posters reading “Caught red-handed selling redlist fish.”

More updates from the Oceans campaign