Citing concerns that dwindling stocks have entered a “critical zone,” Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has closed the Atlantic mackerel and commercial bait fisheries.
In a release issued on Wednesday, the DFO said urgent action had to be taken to give the stocks a chance to recover and to ensure the long-term sustainability and prosperity of East Coast fisheries, reports CBC Canada.
Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said she recognizes many harvesters depend on the fisheries, and she promised to work with them and others in the industry to preserve the stocks.
“We know more than 90 percent of fish stocks on the East Coast are in good shape and I am committed to working with industry to grow the very important fish and seafood industry,” Murray said.
The DFO’s announcement sent shockwaves across the fishing industry. “We are shocked by this radical decision on the part of Minister Murray,” said Martin Mallet, the executive director of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, which represents more than 1,300 fishermen.
Mallet added that it will have far-reaching effects on lobster and crab fisheries in the region, which use the smaller fish as bait. Pelagic forage fish, like herring and mackerel, are also a food source for other species, including tuna and Atlantic cod.
(It’s) going to have a major impact – an atomic bomb impact – on our whole East Coast fishery, from Newfoundland to Quebec to southwest Nova Scotia,” he said. “Many fishermen don’t necessarily have a lobster license or a snow crab license. Some of these fishermen are dependent on the pelagic fisheries for their income.”
Mallet added that the Fisheries Department did not contact the union about the closure prior to the announcement.
Last year, the Fisheries Department imposed several measures to protect the fish stock, including halving the total allowable catch for Atlantic mackerel, and for herring, implementing daily catch limits, minimum mesh hole size in nets, and put limits on the overall size and number of nets.
But now it says the measures haven’t worked and fishing from all sources needs to be kept as low as possible. The department says it’s turning its focus to investing in projects that support alternative forms of bait.
