In July 2012, a controversial American businessman and 'rogue geo-engineer' dumped around 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean as part of a geoengineering scheme off the west coast of Canada near the islands of Haida Gwaii in British Columbia. It was soon confirmed that a newly-formed company, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation (HSRC) � George, the CEO of Planktos, as both its Chief Scientist and Chair of the Board � had been granted funding (totaling more than $2.5 million) for a project to fertilize the ocean, with the intent of selling carbon credits and increasing the wild Pacific salmon population, by the council of Old Massett on Haida Gwaii. According to the Council of the Haida Nation � the de facto government of the Haida people �a dump of iron had indeed allegedly taken place and had reportedly given rise to a plankton bloom, but that the Haida communities had been misled as to the risks and international legal status of such activities. The communities had been told they would earn carbon credits from the dump yet this was a highly unlikely outcome since commercial ocean fertilization is prohibited under international agreements. The dump contravenes the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD) and London convention on the dumping of wastes at sea, which both prohibit for-profit ocean fertilisation activities.
The Council of Hereditary Chiefs and the Council of the Haida Nation issued a statement clarifying they had nothing to do with HSRC's activities and asserted, 'The consequences of tampering with nature at this scale are not predictable and pose unacceptable risks to the marine environment. Our people, along with the rest of humanity, depend on the oceans and cannot leave the fate of the oceans to the whim of the few.' Scientists are debating whether iron fertilisation can lock carbon into the deep ocean over the long term, and have raised concerns that it can irreparably harm ocean ecosystems, produce toxic tides and lifeless waters, and worsen ocean acidification and global warming. A draft report by the U.N. panel of scientists says ocean fertilization can have unknown effects. Added iron might create algae locally but rob nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from other areas. Extra iron could also produce greenhouse gases such as methane in the sea and increase acid levels in the deep oceans as the waste decays.
Almost two weeks after the Guardian revealed the iron dump off Haida Gwaii, a nearby patch of water marked the epicentre of Canada's strongest earthquake in more than 60 years. Canada has not taken any action to prosecute those responsible. As some commentators have noted, this inaction can only lead to more rogue geoengineering, a brand new threat to the planet.
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