WWF-Canada report says Canadian forage fish are in trouble

atlantic herringA new WWF-Canada report says Canadian forage fish are in trouble and more needs to be done to protect the small marine species. The conservation group says the report looked at 27 fisheries and found that three fisheries in Atlantic Canada are in critical condition, including two herring stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The report also said the status of stocks was unknown in 75 per cent of the fisheries, including all capelin fisheries and all the fisheries in British Columbia. It says in all cases, fisheries management does not sufficiently account for predator needs. The group says forage fish are a vitally important food source for predators such as whales and seabirds, and are also critical to the recovery of commercial fisheries such as northern cod. It says more needs to be done to protect forage fish, including gathering adequate data about stocks to inform fisheries management decisions. Link  WWF-Canada warns that small fish are in big trouble Link 09:40

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