twinwinds
Active Member
Watch more streams
December 8, 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081208.EFISH08/TPS
tory/TPComment/BritishColumbia/
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is not
monitoring enough rivers to be able to accurately assess the state
of the Pacific salmon fishery, according to a new study. Since the
preservation of salmon stocks depends on knowing how few are left,
it appears the fishery may survive in spite of the DFO rather than
because of it.
A study published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences has revealed that the DFO is
monitoring less than a tenth of the 2,592 known salmon runs in a
coastal region of British Columbia. Of the 215 streams it does
appear to monitor consistently, only four per cent (seven streams)
have always met DFO targets for salmon runs from 1950 until 2005.
Analysis of the department's data by researchers from B.C.'s
Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of California
reveals that the number of streams the DFO monitored steadily
decreased over that half-century. The streams that failed to meet
targets for the strength of the salmon runs tended to be the very
ones the DFO stopped monitoring, resulting in a bias in favour of
healthier streams.
So of the 137 runs monitored by the DFO between 2000 and 2005, 35
per cent of the salmon runs on the central and north coasts of
British Columbia are depressed (or very depressed), according to the
researchers. The study suggests that if the DFO had assessed more
streams, the percentage of those with depressed or very depressed
salmon stocks would probably be twice as high.
The DFO will ultimately fail to protect salmon stocks from
overfishing if it habitually overestimates their number. A 2006
study commissioned by the DFO recommended that the ministry monitor
at least 407 streams each year. If tallies based on 137 streams are
flawed, the consequent fishing quotas are too high and Pacific
salmon may be in greater jeopardy than many realize.
The impact of overfishing on Pacific salmon is already dramatic.
There are far fewer fish. And those that remain are smaller. Throw
in expanding fish-farm operations and corresponding sea-lice
infestations, under-funding and overly hopeful quotas at the DFO,
and it seems a good time to start worrying that Pacific salmon may
go the way of Atlantic cod.
Ultimately, any possibility of the DFO achieving its "vision" of
robust fisheries requires adequate funding, accurate information and
sharing data with stakeholders.
Canada's remaining fish stocks are a public resource. Knowing what
state they are really in is a matter of the public interest.
December 8, 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081208.EFISH08/TPS
tory/TPComment/BritishColumbia/
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is not
monitoring enough rivers to be able to accurately assess the state
of the Pacific salmon fishery, according to a new study. Since the
preservation of salmon stocks depends on knowing how few are left,
it appears the fishery may survive in spite of the DFO rather than
because of it.
A study published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences has revealed that the DFO is
monitoring less than a tenth of the 2,592 known salmon runs in a
coastal region of British Columbia. Of the 215 streams it does
appear to monitor consistently, only four per cent (seven streams)
have always met DFO targets for salmon runs from 1950 until 2005.
Analysis of the department's data by researchers from B.C.'s
Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of California
reveals that the number of streams the DFO monitored steadily
decreased over that half-century. The streams that failed to meet
targets for the strength of the salmon runs tended to be the very
ones the DFO stopped monitoring, resulting in a bias in favour of
healthier streams.
So of the 137 runs monitored by the DFO between 2000 and 2005, 35
per cent of the salmon runs on the central and north coasts of
British Columbia are depressed (or very depressed), according to the
researchers. The study suggests that if the DFO had assessed more
streams, the percentage of those with depressed or very depressed
salmon stocks would probably be twice as high.
The DFO will ultimately fail to protect salmon stocks from
overfishing if it habitually overestimates their number. A 2006
study commissioned by the DFO recommended that the ministry monitor
at least 407 streams each year. If tallies based on 137 streams are
flawed, the consequent fishing quotas are too high and Pacific
salmon may be in greater jeopardy than many realize.
The impact of overfishing on Pacific salmon is already dramatic.
There are far fewer fish. And those that remain are smaller. Throw
in expanding fish-farm operations and corresponding sea-lice
infestations, under-funding and overly hopeful quotas at the DFO,
and it seems a good time to start worrying that Pacific salmon may
go the way of Atlantic cod.
Ultimately, any possibility of the DFO achieving its "vision" of
robust fisheries requires adequate funding, accurate information and
sharing data with stakeholders.
Canada's remaining fish stocks are a public resource. Knowing what
state they are really in is a matter of the public interest.
