Tag Archives: fisheries scientists

Ottawa shirked own guidelines when it reopened commercial cod fishery, say scientists

Fisheries scientists say the federal government ignored its own guidelines when it hiked cod quotas off the northern and eastern coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador last June. The scientists, some of whom worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada for decades, say they’re struggling to understand the decision to reopen the commercial Northern cod fishery. “I was baffled when I heard the news”, said Noel Cadigan, a long-time DFO scientist who now works at Memorial University’s Marine Institute. “And that hasn’t changed.” A May 6 briefing note obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada shows DFO recommended against reopening the fishery to offshore vessels and increasing quotas. But it also assured Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier that lifting the moratorium and hiking the total allowable catch, as all six Liberal MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador were pushing her to do, would nevertheless align with the Fisheries Act and its rules on stock management. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:15

Expedition breaks new ground in the lives of Pacific salmon

Fisheries scientists have estimated for the first time that 54.5 million Pacific salmon are living in the Gulf of Alaska — providing a valuable new tool to predict how many fish will be returning to B.C. streams to spawn this fall. This new comprehensive count is critical for First Nations, commercial and recreational fishermen, coastal communities, businesses relying on the wild fishery, and fisheries managers trying to figure out why some stocks have declined drastically in certain years or crashed altogether. >click to read<10:40

IJMS Editor’s Choice – are fisheries scientists best utilizing research based on knowledge of fishers?

yA review of over 500 research outputs analysing fishers’ knowledge shows that their experience is not regularly being given due consideration by fisheries scientists. This is despite a growing number of researchers believing that referencing fisher experience might help them to facilitate improved ecological and socio-economic outcomes for marine and freshwater fisheries. Read the rest here  Read this letter. It addresses this issue. 17:49

Pacific Tuna Stocks Have Plummeted, Scientists Warn – fished relentlessly for decades, in trouble.

A report issued this week  by fisheries scientists on behalf of fishing nations, including the United States and Japan, shows that decades of uncontrolled overfishing have left stocks vulnerable, with conservationists warning that there is a real possibility of their collapse. The fisheries scientists, working for an organization known as the International Scientific Committee to Study the Tuna and Tuna-Like Species of the North Pacific Ocean, spell out the crisis in unusually stark language. Read more!

Dick Grachek- Pew laboring overtime on Tuna, in the Biblical sense. Read more