Report | November, 2022

Fishery Audit 2022

 

Oceana Canada’s annual Fishery Audit reports on the state of fish stocks and tracks progress on how well the government is meeting its policy and management commitments. This year’s audit reveals, for the sixth year in a row, that Canada’s fisheries are continuing to decline despite significant commitments, investments, new policies and updated laws from the federal government in efforts to rebuild them.

Key findings include:

  • Fewer than one-third of wild fish stocks are considered healthy.
  • Only six of Canada’s 33 critically depleted stocks currently have a rebuilding plan, and many of the plans that do exist fail to meet DFO’s guidelines including having timelines and targets.
  • The number of healthy fisheries has decreased since 2017, and most of the indicators of good fisheries science, monitoring and management haven’t budged.
  • A significant portion of Canada’s fish stocks, 37 per cent, fall into DFO’s “uncertain” category. According to Oceana Canada’s recent analysis , nearly a quarter of these “uncertain” stock are likely critically depleted.
  • Despite scientific evidence showing the impact of climate change on fisheries, nearly three-quarters – 72 per cent – of DFO’s management documents do not formally consider this.
  • Canada’s Fishery Monitoring Policy to count all catches in a fishery was released in 2019 and has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of fisheries management, however it hasn’t been fully implemented in a single fishery.

For more information about Oceana Canada’s findings, visit FisheryAudit.ca.

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Email: info@oceana.ca

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