B. C. industry changing for the better
Other parts of the world don’t have the same oversight, and climate change is a looming issue
Not too long ago, world fisheries studies started to look like obituaries. A 2002 study estimated 90 per cent of all large, predatory fish in the ocean were gone. And another, in 2006, predicted a worldwide collapse of the ocean fisheries by 2048. But chin up. Sort of. Scott Wallace, senior research scientist at the David Suzuki Foundation, says there’s been a radical shift for the better in the last five to 10 years on B. C.’ s West Coast fisheries and in some world pockets. B. C., he says, is a world leader in fisheries monitoring.
“We have almost unheard of levels of monitoring and we’re continually improving. We’re more optimistic than we were a decade ago. Across the globe, however, you read good things and bad but it’s hard to get a world snapshot. There’s so much regional variation.”
Substantial changes began in the 1990s, triggered by the collapse of the Canadian cod fisheries with a 99 per cent depletion. It had once been the most productive cod fishery in the world. “What happened on the Grand Banks was shown to be happening in all the world’s oceans,” Wallace says. “There had been a multitude of false assumptions and errors and it culminated in the idea that maybe governments and industries should not be the gatekeepers of truth and it spurred organizations like Seafood Watch ( at The Monterey Bay Aquarium).”
The Marine Stewardship Program, the world’s largest international stewardship program began to certify sustainable fisheries. Sea Choice, launched in 2006, was Canada’s version of Seafood Watch and was operated by groups such as the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. In Vancouver, the Vancouver Aquarium and chef Rob Clark ( at C restaurant at the time) founded the Ocean Wise program in 2005, bringing restaurants and chefs on board.
“Instead of fumbling around, and putting the impetus on individuals, conservation groups started pushing major fish retailers to sell sustainable seafood. It was a real shakeup. Walmart was one of the first to make a public statement. There was a major push from 2006 to the present day, and almost 85 per cent of all major seafood retailers in North America have committed to gradually meet sustainable practices.”
Seafood guides and programs like Ocean Wise help consumers negotiate a Byzantine seafood world where sub- species and varieties of a single species can be rated differently; geography makes a difference — some areas are overfished while others are not; some regions use damaging fishing methods for similar fish while others don’t. Some areas have no monitoring systems, leaving conservation groups in the dark about the health of the fisheries.
“There are definite areas where things are improving like our West Coast but globally, overfishing is still a major concern,” says Theodora Geach, Ocean Wise account representative. “Monitoring and regulation isn’t as strong as in North America in places like the coast of Africa, Southeast Asia, Russia and off the Indian Ocean. There’s a lot of illegal, unregulated fishing.”
“Pelagic ( not close to shore and not deep sea long line fishing) long line gets a poor grade because of the bycatch,” says Wallace. “A long line with up to a thousand baited hooks brings in bycatch like turtles, sharks and other fish,” he says.
And while Atlantic cod is to be avoided, long line cod from Alaska gets a green light, according to Sea Choice. Shrimp and prawns are fine from B. C., Oregon and northern Atlantic Canada, but others from Canada and the U. S. are not; farmed shrimp or prawns are generally a no- no because of habitat destruction but then some are farmed sustainably in closed systems.
Bottom trawlers were considered the baddest of the bad guys, says Wallace. “They drag along the ocean bottom, disrupting habitats like corals and sponges and there’s lots of bycatch,” he says. “But in B. C., they’ve been 100 per cent monitored since 1997. Third party at- sea observers are on board on every trip and report everything. ”
Fishing boats have quotas on bycatch and once they’re filled, they have to stop fishing.
“Since 2006, every long line halibut, sablefish, dog fish, rock fish boat is equipped with video cameras or have on- board monitoring. There’s no secrets anymore. Everything’s recorded and it’s tightly regulated,” says Wallace.
The David Suzuki Foundation worked to establish the world’s first habitat quota, controlling fishing in areas with small sponges and coral.
And back on the East Coast, Atlantic cod is stabilizing and starting to show signs of rebuilding in some regions.
In Central and Eastern Canada, fresh water fish are big business. “There’s more walleye caught than halibut is on the West Coast. Canadian lake fisheries probably produce the same volume as West Coast fisheries,” says Wallace. And thus, the Marine Stewardship Council just announced an eco- certification program for freshwater fisheries.
B. C.’ s looking good on the sustainable front, but hold the huzzahs. There’s a new elephant in the room — climate change.
“Ocean chemistry is changing because of climate change. Unfortunately, it’s a reality that’s looming and starting to present itself in ocean systems,” says Wallace. Ocean acidification and higher ocean temperatures will have a huge impact on sea life and that, Wallace feels, is now the biggest threat yet.
And that’s a tough battle. Geach says local successes are a great first step. The Ocean Wise program, she says, is at work in about 2,000 locations from Victoria to St. John’s. Ocean Wise’s next move is to bring a lot of the lower- priced ethnic restaurants on board.
“They’re not going to be selling halibut and sablefish but there are other sustainable options, like mussels, clams, herring,” she says. She’s hopeful. The young generation of Chinese in Hong Kong are now very much opposed to having shark fin soup as a status symbol, she says.