‘Dark day for fishery’; inshore advocates say lifting 32-year northern cod moratorium wrong way forward

DFO’s decision to lift the northern cod moratorium and unleash foreign and domestic offshore draggers on the iconic stock when all signs point to proceeding with extreme caution amounts to a dark day for the province’s commercial fisheries. “We have learned nothing after 32 years of moratorium,” says inshore advocate Ryan Cleary. “The only thing historic about today is the relentless fisheries management failure.” Released unexpectedly Wednesday morning, DFO’s 2024 northern cod management plan reestablishes a commercial fishery for northern cod, the first since 1992, setting the total allowable catch (TAC) at 18,000 tonnes. That’s only a 5,000-tonne increase from 2023’s maximum harvest level of 12,999 tonnes, but that was under a small-scale stewardship fishery limited to inshore handlines, longlines, gillnets, and cod pots. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:04

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.