Audit shows just one in three Canadian fisheries is healthy – National Observer

November 19, 2024

Canada must pick up the pace of protecting and rebuilding vulnerable fish populations, especially as the climate crisis continues superheating oceans, a new fisheries audit shows.

Only 35 per cent of Canada’s 195 fish stocks are considered healthy, while 17 per cent are critically depleted and more than a third aren’t even assessed, according to the annual fishery audit by Oceana, an environmental group.

Rebecca Schijns, fishery scientist at Oceana Canada, says Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) needs to redouble efforts to make good on its own policies and laws. Canada strengthened conservation measures under the Fisheries Act five years ago, but 88 per cent of the 33 fish stocks in the critical “red zone” still don’t have mandated recovery plans in place.

Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/11/18/news/audit-shows-just-one-three-canadian-fisheries-healthy