Blog

“Cod is in big trouble.”

U.S. authorities have halted cod fishing in a large area of the Gulf of Maine after determining there has been a near complete collapse of stocks - numbers show stocks are sitting at just three to four per cent of their historic level. Fisheries and Oceans Canada will soon decide what to do with the cod fishery on the Georges Bank — which is part of the Gulf of Maine — and in other areas.

Randy Nelson, who served as a fishery officer in B.C. for 35 years, and retired as the director of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans conservation & protection branch is speaking out against cuts at DFO. He says budget cuts and enforcement downsizing have left British Columbia open to fish poachers with little risk of getting caught while they launder their unlawful catch in the commercial market - more at the Tyee.

Canada has been “dragging its heels” on commitments to create marine protected areas and ranks last on the list of countries with the longest coastlines in terms of the amount of ocean where human activity has been restricted to preserve biodiversity.

That is the finding of a report to be released June 2nd by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society which points out that Canada has protected just 1.3 per cent of its “ocean estate” – the internal waters and the sea stretching from the coasts to the outer edge of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

First Nations across British Columbia say it is “utterly unacceptable” that the federal government has not taken action to implement Cohen Commission recommendations regarding fisheries and aquaculture management.

Freshwater sport fishing brings substantial revenue to the province of BC. Highlights from the 2013 BC Freshwater Sport Fishing Economic Impact Report include:

"Wild BC salmon deserve more."

DC Reid requested a list of concrete details,  funding commitments, concrete numbers of people committed, timelines achieved and individual responses to the 74 recommendations the Cohen Commission made. Read what he got back from the Fisheries Minister here.