Fishing operators in Newfoundland and Labrador are urging a federal-provincial regulator to stop seismic testing by oil and gas companies off Canada’s east coast, after new federal research revealed a 50% drop in plankton populations over the last five years.
The population drop coincides with a dramatic increase in seismic testing in recent years, and the risk to plankton carries far greater implications. “The tiny organisms live near the ocean’s surface and underpin the entire marine food web, feeding the smallest and largest of creatures that call the ocean home,” iPolitics reports. “Small but mighty, they are what make life on Earth possible.” #nlpoli