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Canadian fisheries management a mess: Report
In an indictment of global fisheries management, a new study says Canada and other countries are failing to honour many of their commitments under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The countries are doing such a bad job that researchers are calling for new laws to help save the planet's fish.
"The time has come for an integrated international legal instrument covering all aspects of fisheries management," says the team led by Tony Pitcher at the fisheries centre at the University of B.C.
Pitcher's team, working with researchers and consultants around the world, evaluated 53 nations that catch 96 per cent of fish hauled ashore to see if they are complying with the UN fisheries code they signed on to in 1995.
The 60-page assessment, featured in a report in British journal Nature on Thursday and to be released in full this week by the World Wildlife Fund International, says there is widespread failure to comply with the code, which is voluntary.
Twenty-eight poorer countries, which catch more than 40 per cent of all fish, had "unequivocal fail grades," the researchers report. No country achieved a "good" score and the best compliance — just 60 per cent — was seen in Norway, which ranked first followed closely by the United States, Canada, Australia, and Iceland. North Korea scored the worst, complying with just 10 per cent of the fisheries code.
Pitcher says the most common and serious failings are in not controlling illegal fishing, not minimizing unwanted catch, not rebuilding depleted stocks, failing to reduce destructive fishing practices like bottom dragging, and not retrieving fishing gear that gets lost and floats away and continues "ghost-fishing," or entangling fish.
Several richer nations get credit for introducing legislation and policies in line with the UN code, but in some instances have failed to actually put them to work.
"In Canada for example, government auditors have criticized failure to implement ocean-management legislation: an ironic twist considering Canada pioneered drafting the code in the 1990s," the researchers report.
"It's a disgrace really," Pitcher said in an interview.
The researchers suggest poorer countries could better manage their fisheries if they received targeted aid. As evidence they point to new patrol vessels and electronic monitoring devices that have helped improve catch surveillance in Thailand, Morocco and Malaysia.
They also conclude that world's fisheries need legal protection saying "there is now widespread scientific consensus on the ecological impacts of continued overfishing and the threats to seafood security."
Pitcher says the most effective approach would probably be for each country to pass and enforce laws consistent with the UN code.
He says one area Canada could "really improve on" is "no-take areas" in which fishing is curtailed to protect ecosystems and give depleted stocks a chance to recover. Canada's current no-take program has been "a complete disaster," Pitcher says. "They're about the size of my office here."
He says Canada also needs a law to deal with "discards" — the tonnes of fish now caught and then thrown overboard because they are too small or the wrong species. Pitcher favours legislation to force fishers to bring all undersized and unwanted catch back to port. They have been introduced in Norway and led to "cleaner and more targeted" fisheries because the fishers don't want to waste time and energy dealing with low-value catch, he says.
The federal department of fisheries and oceans did not respond to the research team's requests for information or take them up on a chance to comment on their findings, Pitcher says. The Canadian government and other fishing nations will have another chance to comment on the study findings and recommendations at an upcoming meeting of the UN Committee on Fisheries in March.
Nootka Marine Adventures
WHERE THE OCEAN IS OUR PLAYGROUND
Charter Packages or Bring Your Own Boat
www.goldriverfishinglodge.com
www.moutchabay.com
Email: h00kedonfishing@hotmail.com
In an indictment of global fisheries management, a new study says Canada and other countries are failing to honour many of their commitments under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The countries are doing such a bad job that researchers are calling for new laws to help save the planet's fish.
"The time has come for an integrated international legal instrument covering all aspects of fisheries management," says the team led by Tony Pitcher at the fisheries centre at the University of B.C.
Pitcher's team, working with researchers and consultants around the world, evaluated 53 nations that catch 96 per cent of fish hauled ashore to see if they are complying with the UN fisheries code they signed on to in 1995.
The 60-page assessment, featured in a report in British journal Nature on Thursday and to be released in full this week by the World Wildlife Fund International, says there is widespread failure to comply with the code, which is voluntary.
Twenty-eight poorer countries, which catch more than 40 per cent of all fish, had "unequivocal fail grades," the researchers report. No country achieved a "good" score and the best compliance — just 60 per cent — was seen in Norway, which ranked first followed closely by the United States, Canada, Australia, and Iceland. North Korea scored the worst, complying with just 10 per cent of the fisheries code.
Pitcher says the most common and serious failings are in not controlling illegal fishing, not minimizing unwanted catch, not rebuilding depleted stocks, failing to reduce destructive fishing practices like bottom dragging, and not retrieving fishing gear that gets lost and floats away and continues "ghost-fishing," or entangling fish.
Several richer nations get credit for introducing legislation and policies in line with the UN code, but in some instances have failed to actually put them to work.
"In Canada for example, government auditors have criticized failure to implement ocean-management legislation: an ironic twist considering Canada pioneered drafting the code in the 1990s," the researchers report.
"It's a disgrace really," Pitcher said in an interview.
The researchers suggest poorer countries could better manage their fisheries if they received targeted aid. As evidence they point to new patrol vessels and electronic monitoring devices that have helped improve catch surveillance in Thailand, Morocco and Malaysia.
They also conclude that world's fisheries need legal protection saying "there is now widespread scientific consensus on the ecological impacts of continued overfishing and the threats to seafood security."
Pitcher says the most effective approach would probably be for each country to pass and enforce laws consistent with the UN code.
He says one area Canada could "really improve on" is "no-take areas" in which fishing is curtailed to protect ecosystems and give depleted stocks a chance to recover. Canada's current no-take program has been "a complete disaster," Pitcher says. "They're about the size of my office here."
He says Canada also needs a law to deal with "discards" — the tonnes of fish now caught and then thrown overboard because they are too small or the wrong species. Pitcher favours legislation to force fishers to bring all undersized and unwanted catch back to port. They have been introduced in Norway and led to "cleaner and more targeted" fisheries because the fishers don't want to waste time and energy dealing with low-value catch, he says.
The federal department of fisheries and oceans did not respond to the research team's requests for information or take them up on a chance to comment on their findings, Pitcher says. The Canadian government and other fishing nations will have another chance to comment on the study findings and recommendations at an upcoming meeting of the UN Committee on Fisheries in March.
Nootka Marine Adventures
WHERE THE OCEAN IS OUR PLAYGROUND
Charter Packages or Bring Your Own Boat
www.goldriverfishinglodge.com
www.moutchabay.com
Email: h00kedonfishing@hotmail.com
