Tag Archives: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
Fish fight over West Coast licences and quota resurfaces at federal committee
A parliamentary committee investigating whether corporations and foreign owners have a stranglehold on Canadian fisheries is experiencing a serious case of deja vu. Witnesses speaking about the dire straits faced by commercial fish harvesters and coastal communities on the West Coast are raising the same issues first presented to the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans (FOPO) starting in 2018.Independent operators, First Nations and young fishers are being squeezed out by skyrocketing prices for commercial fishing licences and quota, a set share of the allowable catch, witnesses told the committee at ongoing meetings starting May 8. >click to read< 15:23
For Atlantic Canada, Fishing Season Brings Yet More Violence
In the early morning dark of April 12, 2023, violence erupted along a Nova Scotia riverbank after a man engaged a woman and a youth in a heated argument. Soon after, seven people arrived. One allegedly assaulted the man with a pipe while another stood nearby wielding a knife and a taser. When the RCMP later arrested two members of the group a short distance away, the officers found two shotguns and a taser. Conflict around elvers is not new, nor is it the only fishery in Atlantic Canada that’s seen so much turmoil. Whether it’s around elvers, lobsters, or something else, “this will continue to play out, and play out, and play out, until the government deals with the issues on the table.” >click to read< 08:05
Federal fish policy a flop, study finds
Canada has one of the world’s most robust wild-salmon conservation policies, but has largely failed to execute its plan even as many B.C. salmon populations have fallen into crisis, according to a new study. The Wild Salmon Policy was hailed as “transformative and timely” when it was introduced in 2006, said lead author Michael Price, a biologist at Simon Fraser University. But 12 years in, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is unable to determine the health or threat status of at least half of the province’s salmon populations, according to the study published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatics. click here to read the story 07:29
DFO Director ‘Ready to Tackle Endangered Coho’ – will ‘do their best’ to protect endangered salmon species. Will it be enough?
When sockeye salmon return en masse to the Fraser River this year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will have a large presence on land and water to ensure commercial fishers don’t take more than they’re allowed, said Larry Paike, director of DFO’s Pacific conservation and protection branch. Read more here 08:14
OK to Catch More At-Risk Salmon if Monitored, Scientist Says
A federal decision allowing commercial fishermen to catch five times the usual amount of endangered coho salmon this year should not be a cause for alarm, said Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, a non-governmental organization working to conserve salmon. Read more here 21:42
Commercial fishing is a strong thread in the social fabric, – Understanding Values in Canada’s North Pacific
Commercial fishing is a strong thread in the social fabric that has held BC’s coastal communities together for generations. The industry’s impact is typically boiled down to dollars and cents, leaving the wider societal impacts poorly documented and largely underrepresented in fisheries policy and marine planning. Yet these values are no less important to the people who make their livings on the sea. more@ecotrustca 12:26
Fisherman Darren Porter fears gate closures killing fish – “Once you see enough of it, it’s hard to watch.”
The Hants Journal – Darren Porter fishes in the Avon River for gaspereau five days a week in April and May. He first approached the Hants Journal with concerns that the gatekeeping practices at the causeway were causing large numbers of fish to die in May 2011. 
Porter says smaller gate openings more often allow for the best possible fish passage into spawning grounds upstream, but that’s not what he’s been seeing this spring. “Once you see enough of it, it’s hard to watch.” continued
