Saving Seafood

Canadian fishery health declining, hamstrung by lack of rebuilding plans, new audit says

November 22, 2019 — The prospect for Canadian fish populations is dim, a new audit says, with fewer stocks healthy today than two years ago and plans in place to rebuild just six of the country’s 33 depleted stocks.

Oceana Canada’s 2019 fishery audit of 194 stocks relied on data from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It suggests that Canadian fishery managers aren’t working with the speed and urgency necessary to rebuild stocks, as required by amendments to the country’s fisheries act that were passed this summer. The proportion of stocks in a critical state rose from 13 percent two years ago to 17 percent today, while the proportion of healthy stocks fell from 35 percent to 29 percent today.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Report card on Canada’s fish stocks suggests action required to reverse decline

November 16, 2018 — Atlantic herring is a hearty source of protein for people and marine mammals alike, but like a startling number of Canada’s fish stocks the plan to rebuild the depleted herring population is currently one big question mark.

That’s a conclusion reached by advocacy group Oceana Canada, which published its second annual fisheries audit Tuesday — a report card assessing the health of Canada’s fish stocks.

The report found Canada has a lot of work to do to reverse the term decline of its fish stocks, and it needs to pick up the pace.

Oceana’s science director Robert Rangeley said he hopes the audit is a “wake-up call” for better fisheries management.

“My biggest fear is one of complacency,” said Rangeley. “We’re still hovering around one-third of our fish stocks (that) are healthy, which is very poor performance for the 194 stocks that are so important for coastal communities.”

Only 34 per cent of Canada’s fish stocks are considered healthy. Twenty-nine per cent are in a critical or cautious zone, and perhaps most alarmingly, 37 per cent of stocks don’t have sufficient data to assign a health status.

Some, like Pacific herring in Haida Gwaii, slipped into the critical red zone this year.

The numbers are indicative of the slow policy implementation that plagues management of Canada’s fisheries, Rangeley said. The Oceana team expected to see more stocks move from the uncertain zone into one of the other categories this year, but in fact, the needle barely moved

Read the full story at CTV News