On the hook: Canada jeopardizing fish stocks with poor management, report says

Margaret Munro
February 2, 2012
Vancouver Sun

Twenty years after the collapse of the world's largest cod fishery off Canada's East Coast, experts say the beleaguered groundfish are still being overexploited.

Fishing continues in areas where cod stocks are below "critical limits," says Jeffrey Hutchings of Dalhousie University and head of a national science panel that called Thursday for sweeping changes in the management of Canada's oceans.

The change needs to start at the top, by reducing the "czar-like" powers of the federal minister of fisheries and oceans, the panel says.

The Fisheries Act, which dates back to 1868, also needs to get with the modern age, says the expert panel on marine biodiversity, which was established by the Royal Society of Canada.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible for both exploiting and conserving fisheries — a "conflict of interest" that the panel says needs to be resolved.

The 10-member panel spent two years assessing ocean biodiversity and the challenges posed by climate change, fishing and aquaculture.

It has delivered a 316-page report that says Canada's oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic, which could make some waters inhospitable to marine life. And sea ice disappearing from the Arctic and the East Coast will profoundly affect marine life and their ecosystems.

It says overfishing has seriously depleted many species and disrupted marine food webs.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun.

Full report; Sustaining Canada's Marine Biodiversity: Responding to the Challenges Posed by Climate Change, Fisheries, and Aquaculture; February 2012

Read related stories:

• CBC News; February 2, 2012; "Canada failing its oceans, biodiversity panel finds"
  
• Vancouver Sun; February 2, 2012; "Canada must act decisively to protect marine biodiversity: report"